Houston-based Strategic Materials Inc., North America’s largest glass recycler, has announced the opening of a new glass processing plant in Delavan, Wisconsin, which was built to respond to the state’s need to increase glass recycling. The 125,000-square-foot facility sits on 15 acres. Strategic Materials says it expects the facility to begin production in early November 2017. The Delavan location replaces the company’s East Troy, Wisconsin, facility and will retain nearly all of its existing employees, the company says.

Strategic Materials in partnership with state recycling organizations including AROW (Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin), SWANA (Solid Waste Association of North America) Badger Chapter and WCSWARA (Wisconsin Counties Solid Waste Management Association) selected the city of Delevan as a centralized location to help defray transportation costs for material recovery facility (MRF) in the state’s most densely populated cities. The state of Wisconsin estimates at least 121,000 tons of glass are available in the recycling stream annually.

“We are delighted to provide a solution to the state of Wisconsin for glass recycling,” says Denis Suggs, Strategic Materials president and chief executive officer. “Our new facility was built to better serve not only our customers, but also our suppliers. We’ve nearly doubled our capacity and are able meet end market demand with a higher quality product.”

Suggs adds, “We applaud the state of Wisconsin for their progressive stance on glass recycling and willingness to collaborate with us to benefit the state, the environment and the local economy. We hope other states will follow their lead.”

Headquartered in Houston, SMI recovers and processes postconsumer and postindustrial glass, operating a network of 47 facilities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company’s end markets include glass packaging, fiberglass insulation, flat glass and highway safety beads, as well as the air blast abrasives industry.

In mid-October, Littlejohn & Co. LLC, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Strategic Materials from Willis Stein & Partners, Northbrook, Illinois, and London-based Vision Capital.