ASHLEY — Brightmark LLC, a circular innovations company that recycles plastic waste into new products, recently announced that certain subsidiaries related to its Ashley facility have filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Brightmark has filed motions to continue operations during the proceedings and to pursue an auction and sale process under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Brightmark intends to provide continued financing to allow the Ashley facility to have sufficient liquidity to maintain day-to-day operations, and the expectation is that there will be no impact on the employment of the more than 90 employees in Ashley.
“Today’s filing allows us to take control of our future,” said Brightmark Founder and CEO, Bob Powell. “This strategic move is designed to ensure the long-term viability of the Ashley facility and enables us to grow our business sustainably. We are excited about the future of our plastics business, and our commitment to it and the Ashley community is unwavering.”
The filing is specific to the Ashley facility and does not affect other parts of Brightmark’s business.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a legal process that allows businesses to reorganize finances, continue operations and develop a plan to repay creditors over time, rather than liquidating assets as in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Brightmark started operations at the Ashley plant in 2020, after first starting to work with local officials on siting the plant in 2015.
Meanwhile, Brightmark continues to make progress on the development of its state-of-the-art Circularity Center in Thomaston, Georgia, announced in 2024, the company said in a press release. As a next step in development, the company will complete the filings necessary for the air permit process for the facility.
“We are optimistic about the future of the Thomaston facility and believe it will play a crucial role in our overall plastics business,” Powell said. “We look forward to our continued partnership with the Thomaston community.”
Brightmark uses a state-of-the-art plastics-to-fuel process that sustainably recycles waste that has reached the end of its useful life — including items that cannot readily be recycled, like plastic film, flexible packing, Styrofoam and children’s toys — directly into useful products.
Ultimately, the outputs of this technology are used to produce the feedstocks necessary for manufacturing plastic again, thus creating the world’s first truly circular economy technology for plastics.
The plant was initially established to convert plastics to industrial wax and diesel fuel.
In April 2019, Brightmark closed a $260 million financing package for the construction of the plant, which included $185 million in Indiana green bonds.
As part of the financing closing, Brightmark became the controlling owner of RES Polyflow, the Ohio-based energy technology company that innovated the process for converting plastics directly into transportation fuel and other products.
RES Polyflow started working with Ashley and Steuben County government officials on the project in 2015. The project had been in development since approximately 2010 before officials selected Ashley as the site for the first plant.
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