Development News From Southwest Indiana

QTR receives $100,000 grant
By Bill Medley, Courier & Press staff writer, June 13, 2005
An Evansville plastics company has received a state grant to find a new use for recycled bottles.

The Indiana Recycling and Energy Development Board awarded $100,000 to QTR Inc. to develop products that could be made from used plastic bottles, QTR President Rod Jackson said. As a condition of the grant, the company will be required to provide matching funds.

"There's a significant problem with bottled waste in the U.S. and in Indiana," Jackson said Monday. "It's real hard to recycle."

Plastic bottles are difficult to recycle due to their composition, Jackson said.

The company has purchased new equipment with the grant and is already researching possible products. The company has agreed to release any research and data it gathers for product development into the public domain, Jackson said.

The new equipment, which Jackson compared to a small production line, was needed in order to more efficiently process recycled bottled material.

"With our existing equipment, it would be like trying to do trim work on a house with a sledge hammer," Jackson said.

The company has also purchased equipment that will allow workers to determine the content of recycled bottles.

One common product produced from recycled bottles is clear plastic sheeting material, typically used to encapsulate merchandise on store shelves.

But Jackson said QTR is focusing on combining the recycled material with "friendly polymers" in order to produce plastic automobile components.

"I definitely think if we can produce some products, it will be a good thing for the state," Jackson said.

Funding for the grant comes from a state administered surcharge tacked onto waste items dropped off at landfills.

"It's kind of a tax, and the money is committed wholly to improving recycling in the state," Jackson said.

QTR, located on St. Joseph Industrial Park Drive, employs 40 workers and is planning a $1.6 million expansion project that will add 10 jobs immediately and five more after 5 years.

PO Box 20127, Evansville, IN 47708-0127 TEL: 812-423-2020 E-mail: info@swidc.org