SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Feb 8, 2007 -- ECO2 Plastics, eco-friendly recycling company announced that it is ready to launch its recycling operations in California.
The company intends to use its financing to ramp up its recycling plant in
Northern California to full-scale operation and begin development on a second plant in
Southern California. ECO2 Plastics longer-term plan is to own and operate plastic recycling plants worldwide. Their proprietary technology gives them the ability to produce high-quality recycled plastic flake at a low cost, while minimizing environmental impact.
ECO2's typical recycling plant can produce 9,000 lbs. of clean plastic flake per hour. A similarly sized water-based plant consumes up to 4,500 gallons of water per hour, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, then disposes the water, chemical contaminants, paper and plastic residue back into the environment. ECO2 uses no water and delivers the same high quality recycled plastic flake without the waste or chemicals found in existing water-based processes. ECO2's patented and patent-pending recycling process enables the Company to be the lowest-cost producer of recycled plastic flake, affording it the highest profit margins.
ECO2 will build a recycling plant in Riverbank, near Modesto, and on building a second plant in Southern California. The company's strategy is to own and run plastic recycling plants.
Rod Rougelot is the company's CEO. ECO2 was formerly named ITEC Environmental Group. Itec Environmental Group Inc. was approved for a $2 million low-interest loan from the California Integrated Waste Management Board through the Recycle Market Development Zone Loan Program.
Rod Rougelot, CEO of ECO2 Plastics
Eugene McColley, co-founder of Roaring Fork Capital Management, one of ECO2's investors.
Lawrence A. Krause, Principal of KW Securities Corporation
BACKGROUND:
The National Nuclear Security Administration - Kansas City Plant developed a process that uses liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide to blast oil residue off of empty plastic motor oil bottles. With this process, which produces no waste streams, both the residual oil and clean plastic can then be reused.
The Kansas City Plant patented this process and licensed the technology to Itec Environmental Group, which used it to develop a plastics recycling system called the ECO2. Itec has been able to use this system to recycle not only motor oil bottles, but almost every other type of consumer plastic as well. ECO2 has proven to be superior to conventional plastic recycling methods because it produces no waste, generates cleaner and more marketable plastic, and can recover residual oil for recycling, which no other system can do.
Not only is the ECO2 system more environmentally friendly and less expensive, but it creates a better product. Though originally intended for cleaning used oil bottles, this technology can completely remove glue, labels, oil and dirt from plastic containers as well. It also eliminates all odors, making the plastic cleaner, more marketable and more profitable than plastics cleaned with water-washing. ECO2 generates FDA-approved clean plastics, which are in high demand in the plastics industry, especially for use in produce packaging.
Because of this technology transfer effort, Itec has been able to commercialize the ECO2 recycling method and start up a promising new company that has captured the interest of both the plastics industry and environmental waste management organizations.
Contact: George Bohnert, (816) 997-5069, gbohnert@kcp.com
SOURCE: http://www.er.doe.gov/Accomplishments_Awards/flc/2006.htm
