BATA Plastics, Inc., a full-service plastics recycling company based out of Grand Rapids, Mich., had been surveying the Rio Grande Valley to set up a second operation to service a large client manufacturing truck components. Already familiar with the large number of manufacturing taking place in Reynosa, Mexico, BATA saw the value that the city of McAllen offered. While allowing BATA to service its established client on the U.S. side, McAllen's proximity to Reynosa presented them with the opportunity to offer its plastic recycling processes to other manufacturers south of the border. For over 20 years BATA has purchased surplus and rejected parts of post industrial plastics from manufacturers and scrap dealers. Services they offer include custom toll grinding, size reduction-shredding, pellatizing, baling, sorting, metal separation, fines separation and drop trailers, to name a few.
In their Michigan headquarters, BATA Plastics, Inc. has received LEED Silver certification. The U.S. Green Building Council defines LEED as an internationally-recognized green building certification system acknowledging projects that implement strategies which can improve environmental and health performance. BATA Plastics is the first plastic recycler in North America with this distinguished certification. While the City of McAllen has been actively promoting a 'go green' initiative with its residents, companies such as BATA Plastics certainly provide the city with a partner knowledgeable in environmental responsibility.
As they launch their operation in the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone with the assistance of the McAllen Economic Development Corp. and Lamar Lawson, a McAllen real estate broker, the workforce will begin with 10, and steadily increase as the list of clients grows. The McAllen operation will be approximately 50 percent of the Michigan operation in terms of square footage. Their workforce in Michigan consists of 95 employees, and the goal is to grow the McAllen operation to that same level. With the number of manufacturing plants across the border, it is quite possible to see this taking place in the near future.
-- Carlos Telles, Marketing Director, McAllen Economic Development Corporation
Posts
