Recycler, Town Search for Expansion Possibilities

One of the town of Burrillville, R.I.'s larger employers wants to expand its metal-recycling operations and needs a more efficient facility than its 10-building Mapleville campus.

Metech International hopes to relocate within 25 miles of its current location, which could place the company in Connecticut or Massachusetts as well as northern Rhode Island.

Burrillville officials hope the company stays in town.

"I'm going to work like crazy to try to keep them here," Town Planner Thomas J. Kravitz said.

However, he's aware that Metech's decision will hinge on whether it can gain access to natural gas lines, which do not run into the new industrial park the town is creating off Route 102. That is one of about 20 locations Metech has already investigated, said quality control manager Andrew C. McManus, who is leading the company's search for a new location.

Metech prefers to stay in northern Rhode Island, said James K. Gardner, manager of market development.

"We want to keep our employee base," he said.

Metech employs about 100 people in Mapleville and about 38 at a facility in California's Silicon Valley. The company salvages the precious metals found in old computers, electronics and telephone equipment and converts the metals into usable forms, which it then sells to copper smelters and precious metal refineries. It plans to expand the part of its business that recycles material from products that have reached the end of their useful life.

Company president John Koskinas thinks Metech will move within 15 to 18 months.

"If we can find a way to stay local, we're certainly going to do that first," Koskinas said.

Metech's two local plants are on either side of the Mapleville Bridge, which crosses the Chepachet River and is slated to be replaced this year.

With 10 buildings that total about 125,000 square feet, Metech's operations aren't as efficient as they could be, officials said. The company must make half a dozen semi-truck deliveries between plants each day and cannot use all of its space due to weight restrictions on the third floor of its old mill buildings.

Metech wants one building with about 150,000 square feet and ceilings at least 25-feet high to accommodate its large equipment, officials said.

While the company has 48 acres now, it only needs about 14 or 15 acres. Three ponds, a river, an old hydropower sluiceway and wetlands cover about 40 acres. It doesn't need water on its new site.

The company has 27 heating facilities on its sprawling campus, a number Gardner believes could drop to three with one building.

"It's efficiency," Gardner said. "We cannot grow our business in this facility."

As for the issue of natural gas in Burrillville, New England Gas Company has conducted some research and estimates about running more gas lines into town, said Christopher J. Medici, director of communications for the utility company. However, it's too early to say whether gas lines will become a reality for the industrial park location, he said.

"It's based on a number of factors," Medici said. "We're certainly ready, willing and able to bring gas to the site. We certainly would want to do that. It's just a question of resolving all of the issues."

Metech now uses fuel oil and some propane. It needs access to natural gas so it can buy a new thermal-reduction unit that runs on gas.

"We need natural gas," McManus said. "As we look at our criteria, drop dead criteria is: Does it have natural gas? If no, it's out of the picture."