By David Wren
A Berkeley County tire recycler and the head of a Chinese chemical company are teaming up to build a $28 million rubber and plastics recycling business that will create 200 jobs for this rural town where nearly one-third of the residents live in poverty.
Viva Holdings Group — a combination of Moncks Corner-based Viva SC Recycling and Zhang Baofa, a partner in Jingxin Chemical Group — will operate the plant through its Viva TPE Products subsidiary. It will build industrial and consumer products made from scrap plastics and rubber that have been molded together through a proprietary process, officials said.
The company plans to renovate a 177,000-square-foot building on Ravenell Drive that previously was home to Reliable Electric, an electronic components manufacturer. Viva plans to be operating there by the first quarter of 2017 and will begin hiring later this year.
Berkeley County Supervisor Bill Peagler called the announcement “the beginning of a new day” for St. Stephen and its roughly 1,800 residents.
“This area of Berkeley County has been without a viable business for awhile and the citizens were all suffering,” Peagler said.
Census Bureau statistics show the average annual household income in St. Stephen is about one-third less than the statewide average.
“Viva’s announcement today is a true revival for this area,” Peagler said.
Viva SC Recycling will continue to operate its existing Moncks Corner facilities, said Marty Sergi, the company’s president and CEO. Those sites recycle about 60 percent of all used tires in South Carolina, turning them into products such as pellets for playgrounds and artificial turf.
Sergi said he initially planned to provide Baofa with recycled materials for a U.S. facility the Chinese businessman was looking to operate. Ultimately, Sergi said, “we realized we should be partners.”
Baofa, who will be chairman of Viva Holdings Group, co-founded Jingxin Chemical Group in 1998. The company has more than 1,500 employees and sells products to more than 50 countries.
Speaking through an interpreter, Baofa called Thursday’s announcement “a dream come true” and said the new company “will revolutionize the rubber and plastic industries” while improving the environment and creating jobs.
The St. Stephen facility aims to provide injection-molded products to the state’s aerospace and automotive industries as well as other manufacturers and consumers.
“Anything you can make out of plastic today, you can make from our product,” Sergi said. “The difference is, by putting plastic and rubber together, it’s stronger and more flexible.”
The plant initially will make shipping pallets for global trade.
“We’re going to make millions of pallets here, but it will ultimately be so many other products,” Sergi said.
The new facility will get its rubber from Viva’s Monks Corner sites and plans to contract with S.C. counties to take plastic recyclables collected there.
Sergi said he chose St. Stephen because of the area’s available workforce.
“This is an area that hasn’t been tapped,” he said. “The good quality people in this area have not been using their skills. We’re going to get them to use their skills.”
In addition to the St. Stephen building, Viva Holdings has purchased 65 acres of adjacent land for future expansion. Depending on future market conditions, the company’s investment could rise to $45 million and create 384 jobs.
Teresa Powers, senior project manager with the S.C. Commerce Department, said recycling is a growing business in South Carolina. In 2015, companies in that industry invested $260 million in new facilities employing 560 workers.
Source: Post and Courier
