SEATTLE (Recycling Monster):  Brightmark will retain control of the facility formerly run by its subsidiaries and keep it in operation after a judge accepted the company’s bid, Resource Recycling first reported. Brightmark’s nearly $14.3 million bid was accepted instead of creditor UMB Bank’s higher bid because it would avoid the costs of canceled contracts or a site shutdown and cleanup, Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein ruled. 

“We believe in our plastics business and providing a viable, circular recycling solution for post-use plastic while working to solve waste challenges at scale,” Bob Powell, founder and CEO of Brightmark, said in a statement. “The retention of the Ashley facility is an important step in accomplishing our mission.”

Dive Brief:

• March 18: Three subsidiaries of Brightmark filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday in a Delaware court. As part of the plan to address $178.3 million in debt, the subsidiaries plan to sell assets related to the company’s pyrolysis facility in Ashley, Indiana.
• The bankruptcy is specific to the Ashley plastics “circularity center” and does not affect other parts of Brightmark’s business, the company said. Brightmark plans to continue operating that facility throughout the court process and said the process is “not intended to have any impact” on the 90 employees who work there, according to a news release.
• Brightmark said it will still continue plans to build another facility in Thomaston, Georgia, which it announced in 2024. The company is in the process of filing for an air permit for that $950 million project.

Courtesy: www.wastedive.com