(pictured: AgroRenew founders Katie and Brian Southern put shovels to the ground at a a special ceremony marking the start of construction of their new operation)
Every white folding chair on a grassy field next to a growing watermelon crop was filled as another first happened Wednesday in Indiana’s First City.
Local government, business and community leaders turned out for the historic groundbreaking of a first of it’s kind bioplastics plant to be built on Elkhorn Road.
Sixteen months after Knox County farmers pondered what could be done with 40 million pounds of unharvested melons shovels were put to the ground in a ceremonial start to construction on an $83 million plant that will eventually employ around 300 people.
Those workers will transform the produce waste into plastic products that will be totally biodegradable, reducing the environmentally harmful products filling up landfills and polluting waterways.
Founder and CEO of AgroRenew, Brian Southern says actual dirt moving at the site in the Knox County Industrial park will start in a few weeks.
Southern noted that phase one of construction is targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2025, with the first test products rolling off the assembly line shortly thereafter.
During the ceremony, Vincennes Mayor Joe Yochum pointed out that Brian Southern and his wife Katie, who is the company’s science officer, were committed to building the plant here…
The Vincennes-based plant will be the first purpose-built facility in the world to produce biodegradable plastic at scale. The 196,000 square foot plant will ship bio-based plastic pellets to finishing plants, where they will be transformed into a variety of finished products, including plastic bags, hard plastics, straws, and single-use packaging.
In his remarks to the crowd, Southern highlighted several key dates for facility operations: Hiring for plant leadership, science, and engineering roles will begin in late summer for an October anticipated start, followed by hiring for the majority of plant positions later in the year.
The ceremony included constant references to the Pantheon in downtown Vincennes, which everyone involved in the project say is the reason for AgroRenew coming to fruition.
The company’s founders were able to meet with the Pantheon Innovation Center’s Ag Tech Committee and talks about the project began.
CEO of the Pantheon, Nicole Like, presented AgroRenew Founders with a special award called the Be A First Award and they will be featured on the Pantheon’s Wall of Firsts.
Southern says without the Pantheon, AgroRenew would not have happened.
Construction will take place in three phases and is expected to be complete in 2026, though the company will begin producing and shipping product in 2025. When operating at max capacity the company will ship 300,000 tons of biodegradable plastic pellets annually.
Southern says they have already sold 100% of the production capacity of the plant. He says that’s why they are already thinking about their next step.
He hopes that AgroRenew’s success will allow others to do what they are doing and they are collaborating with other companies to help create more opportunities for economic growth and being environmentally responsible.