A former Austin landfill spot is set to become a green-centric industrial hub. The area will soon exclusively house businesses in the recycling and reuse industries. According to Austin radio station KUT, the “goal is to see market-ready products coming off of the site.”
“That could be plastic bottles … made into resin and then into plastic park benches,” Natalie Betts, of the City of Austin, told KUT. “So, that kind of next step in the recycling system is what we are looking to relocate [to] the [re]Manufacturing Hub.”
Betts says she hopes the hub will create more than 1,200 jobs and a billion dollars in revenue.
The reuse industry is thriving in the U.S., from rural farms to dense urban centers, and the new zone will bring central Texas closer to becoming a zero-waste community, a goal for many regions.
“To reach zero waste in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner, Austin needs companies in our region that can reuse and repurpose the materials we collect,” Bob Gedert, director of Austin Resource Recovery, told Recycling Today. “The companies that locate at the Austin [re]Manufacturing Hub will become part of a growing zero waste ecosystem in central Texas.”
Construction will start next summer, and the first phase will be ready for tenants by mid-2017. Businesses interested in joining the [re]Manufacturing Hub can apply with the city until October 19, 2015.
Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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