Bioplastics startup launches in Knox County, plans $83M processing plant
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A startup based in Knox County plans to build an $83 million processing facility designed to turn food waste into eco-friendly bioplastics and create nearly 250 jobs.
Vincennes Mayor Joe Yochum and officials from the Knox County Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced the launch of AgroRenew LLC at The Pantheon business incubator in Vincennes on Friday.
The facility, which will ultimately span nearly 200,000-square-feet, will be used to repurpose food waste from the county’s watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkin farms into biodegradable and sustainable plastics.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, AgroRenew founder Brian Southern said the idea stemmed from conversations with local farmers about what to do with excess harvest that doesn’t get bought or doesn’t pass quality control.
“We started to explore the emerging trends of bioplastics and determined that there are some chemical elements within some of the watermelon that can be used, blended with some other biosource products that allow us to create the right chemical structure to create a biodegradable plastic resin polymer,” Southern said.
AgroRenew has secured land at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Elkhorn Road in the U.S. 41 Industrial Park south of Vincennes. Built over four phases, the facility will cover 20 acres.
Brian Southern’s background is in process engineering and his wife, Katie Southern, who serves as chief science officer, is a food scientist. Brian said the idea for the company was “serendipitous” considering their respective backgrounds.
Southern said the key to a project like this is having access to the biomaterial needed to create the plastics, and Knox County is the perfect location.
“Knox County is one of the largest producing watermelon farms in the country,” he said. “If you look at Knox County, then you also look at Posey and Gibson County…Sullivan and Pike [County], the surrounding area, there’s an excess of just a great resource, biomaterial that we can utilize. And also, we were not diverting from the food supply chain.”
Southern said the company is also working with farmers to explore opportunities for planting cover crops during the winter months.
“Those cover crops are being designed to meet some of our chemical property requirements for making the bioplastics,” he said. “So, that’s making it a full circular economy-type model, where we’re enabling those farmers to utilize their land 365 days out of the year and give them multiple crop opportunities that all lead to both food sales for their primary products, and then everything else coming to us as a biosource product for bioplastics.”
The company expects to break ground in early 2024. The first two phases will establish a 102,000-square-foot facility that Southern said would be able to take about 100 million pounds of food waste per season and produce around 150,000 tons of bioplastic annually. It will feature the main production area quality control labs, team member areas, and office space.
Once the initial facility is running at optimum efficiency, the company plans to add 92,000 square feet of additional manufacturing space.
The project is being funded with a combination of the company’s own investment, as well as private equity investment and customer partners who are investing in the plant.
“We’re basically going to start off in a position when we open the doors that we, in essence, have zero debt load,” Southern said. “So that’s going to allow us to have that operating time to really focus on making a high quality product.”
One of the major challenges for AgroRenew, Southern said, is finding the talent to operate the facility. The company is partnering with Vincennes University to develop a skilled trade certification program to train and skill up every employee.
“We believe that that will help us attract some of the the high school graduates and some of the two-year graduates to stay here in the community, and kind of have our own talent development program,” he said.
The initial facility will also have an in-house day care center for employees who may need those services.
Future plans also call for a 16,000-square-foot Bioplastics Innovation Center, a research facility that will sit on 21 acres of experimental crop development. The company plans to create an additional 22 science and engineering jobs with that project.
“The establishment of AgroRenew’s bioplastics manufacturing plant is expected to generate numerous benefits for Knox County and its residents, including the creation of new job opportunities, economic growth, and reduced environmental impact,” Chris Pfaff, CEO of the Knox County Indiana Economic Development, said in written remarks. “As the company prepares to break ground and commence construction, anticipation is building for the positive transformation that this venture will bring to the region.
Looking long-term, Southern said AgroRenew will look to build multiple facilities in other parts of the country where they can find the biomaterial needed to make the bioplastic products, such as Georgia, Florida and Texas.
You can watch the full press conference announcing the launch of AgroRenew in the video below, beginning at the five-minute mark.