Plastics Recycling Program on Hold

A proposed contract with Plastic Energy LLC of Sacramento to turn discarded plastic into diesel, or use it to generate electricity, at the Kings Waste and Recycling Authority's facility near Hanford, Calif., is on hold.

The authority's board took no action to approve the contract in order to give local officials, including technical people from local government offices, a chance to meet next week and settle some issues.

Concerns included the lack of final plans for Plastic Energy's proposed operation. And some worries center on whether the plans would need an environmental review.

A question also exists over whether Plastic Energy should be required to put up a performance bond for the project to make sure it goes.

"We're all very supportive of the project," District 2 Supervisor Jon Rachford, an authority board member, said. "From its original inception, (Plastic Energy) has increased the scope of it and we just have to be sure that we can get it all done and we can live up to our part of it with respect to the permitting process and all the other regulatory stuff that goes along."

Peter Moock, the authority's attorney, said he believes the issues with the contract can be overcome.

"I think it's just a question of working out the details and getting it done," Moock said.

The company would use hard-to-recycle plastics such as Styrofoam, PVC pipe and bubble wrap to make diesel or electricity, Michael R. Adams, executive director of the Kings Waste and Recycling Authority, said.

Plastic Energy will lease land from the authority for its operation with the authority providing discarded plastic, Adams said.

In addition, the authority will receive some diesel and some electricity from the firm, he said.

Rachford said the operation will divert plastic now going to the landfill, a good thing because the state is under a mandate to reduce material going to the landfill by 50 percent.

And the diesel made by the company's process will be a clean-burning diesel, he said. Sentinel News