Blue Oak Arkansas Official Says Recycling To Begin By 2016

A facility that will recycle metals from circuit boards and other electronic equipment will be busy, possibly by early 2016, an official with the company said Wednesday.

Mark Wester, the manager of Blue Oak Arkansas, spoke to the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce’s environment committee during the group’s Go Green lunch.

The company, based in Burlingame, Calif., announced plans earlier this year to build a facility on a 30-acre site in Osceola.

Company and state officials broke ground June 10 on the project on Ohlendorf Road, down the street from the American Greetings plant.

Wester said the use and disposal of consumer electronics has risen in the past 30 years, in part due to technology.

The disposal of the electronics, creating E-waste, leaves gold and silver ore among other metals ready to be extracted, Wester said.

The collection of the metals and the basic recycling are done in the United States while much of the high-value recycling is done overseas.

The new business will seek to reverse that, Wester said.

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES
Wester also spoke to the group about the construction of the facility.

The construction began a day after ground was broken. However, heavy rains – which coincidentally hit on the day of the ground breaking – pushed some construction back.

The facility is expected to be completed by early 2015, with crews testing a plasma furnace to be used at the facility in the third quarter of next year.

Production is expected to ramp up in August 2015, with the facility up and running in early 2016, Wester said.

Wester said the facility should employ between 30 and 50 people, depending on how efficient the facility can be.