Port of Port Angeles Gets $3.7 Million for Composites Recycling Centre

The Port of Port Angeles has received notice of $2 Million in federal funding, $712,000 in State Funding and $1 Million in Clallam County Funding to Support Composites Recycling

The U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration provided notice of preliminary selection for the Port of Port Angeles’ application for $2 million to retrofit a building to house the industrial and workforce training facilities for the Composite Recycling Technology Centre (CRTC).

Port Angeles has been selected for a $2 million federal grant to create a reprocessing centre to convert composite waste streams into useful products to create jobs and income, while reducing negative environmental impact. For example, Peninsula College students have been making I-beams in their classroom lab, and these could be utilised for applications such as solar panel mounts.

Governor Jay Inslee said.

We committed $712,000 from the Clean Energy Fund as a partial match for this project which is another example of how clean technology could create job opportunities. This is a local community taking its economic future in its own hands. They’ve established a vision, partnered early and often with the state Department of Commerce. I am proud to see the Port achieving this milestone and look forward to continue our work together.

The federal award is contingent upon providing additional documentation, including firm commitments to the Port for the $2 million match requirement. Less than two business days after receipt of the Federal notice, the Clallam County Board of Commissioners took action to provide $1 million in Opportunity Funds to the Port for the necessary infrastructure. The Port now has the remaining matching funds committed for this $4 million infrastructure investment to support innovative manufacturing utilising composite scrap materials.

These announcements come less than a month after the Port briefed U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary Jay Williams about the recycling centre at meeting arranged by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). PSRC led the effort to secure a federal “Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership” designation – one of only 12 in the country – that partners like Port Angeles can use to get priority for federal funding like the $2 million U.S. EDA grant. This recycling centre project was chosen as one of just six Catalytic Investments in the state’s winning designation.

The Port facility is planned to be open as soon as January 2016 and will house the CRTC and Peninsula College’s Advanced Manufacturing – Composites program. Economic Impact Analysis for the CRTC estimates the centre would provide 111 jobs by its fifth year of operation. By the sixth year, an additional 89 jobs will be created in advanced composites as products are spun off to the private sector. An additional 140 jobs will be supported elsewhere in the economy as a result of these new productive enterprises.