FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - On Monday evening, members of the Fort Wayne Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the primary development for a new recycling plant.
The plant, proposed by the company Exurban, is expected to be built on the northeast corner of East Paulding and Adams Center roads.
Some residents of southeast Fort Wayne were in attendance for the vote and voiced their displeasure with the result of the vote.
“Would they want their family living next door to a toxic plant? With all the smog and all the smut and all the other things that are going to come from this plant?” southeast Fort Wayne resident Jessie Jackson said.
Jackson says he is worried about any potential risk from pollution, not only for him, but for future generations as well.
“The children are our future, so we have to stand and fight for our children because if we don’t stand and fight for them... they can’t fight for themselves,” Jackson said.
Wes Adams is the co-founder of Exurban USA, and he tells me that he doesn’t believe that the facility will cause pollution.
“We don’t anticipate that this will be a major source of pollution in the area,” said Adams. “We have zero waste from our facility so that’s zero anticipated water waste, zero anticipated solid waste and we are using the best available air quality emission control devices that will ensure that we will not have a whole lot of waste coming from this facility.”
Adams says that the new facility will bring 150 new jobs in three shifts to Fort Wayne. He also says that he understands the frustration from the community, but thinks that, overall, it will be a good addition for the city.
“Give us a chance to win your trust... we are here to make the world a greener place,” said Adams. “We are dedicated to lowering carbon emissions, and I think that over time we are going to prove to be a strong member of the community in Fort Wayne.”
The people in charge of Exurban say that the facility would be the world’s first zero waste recycling facility for electronic scrap metal.
