Phoenix Technologies is planning an $18 million expansion of its Bowling Green recycling operations that
could create up to 40 new jobs.
The new positions will be in manufacturing, maintenance, engineering and management, said company
President Robert Deardurff. Hiring won’t proceed until later this year, with production at a new
facility beginning early in 2015.
The company received unanimous approval Thursday from Wood County Community Improvement Corporation for a
solid waste recovery bond. Financing has not been set, but the company is in the credit approval process
with KeyBank.
Bonds through the county will allow Phoenix to acquire a lower interest rate by exemption from state and
federal taxes, said Richard Spoor, a Cincinnati attorney who advises the CIC in bond matters. The county
will issue tax-exempt bonds for the expansion, but the project does not involve use of public funds or
expose the county to any liability, nor is there any tax abatement arrangement included in the approval,
Spoor said.
The new operation will be at 501 E. Poe Road, an industrial property just east of the railroad tracks
that has been unoccupied since Thomas & Betts closed its factory and shifted operations to
Tennessee in June 2010. Thomas & Betts acquired the plant two years before from Lamson &
Sessions, shortly after which a large plastic pipe extrusion operation was removed.

Phoenix will lease the property from Al Green and other investors, who purchased the 67,000 square-foot
facility for about $1.4 million last fall, according to Wood County Auditor’s records. The company will
keep up existing operations at its 120,000 square-foot plant at 1098 Fairview Ave.
"The nice thing is that if you think about Poe Road, we’re right across from the recycling center.
So we can have carts going across every couple days, and we’ll be all set to be able to close the loop
for Wood County," Deardurff said.
Founded in 1992, Phoenix processes plastic ready to be recycled, or "clean flake," into pellets
that are made into new plastic bottles for Southeastern Container, a local Coca-Cola bottler, and
Colgate. Phoenix purchases plastic from suppliers, but the expansion will allow Phoenix to process
yet-uncleaned bottles into the raw material it uses to create its pellets.
"It allows you to start with a bottle and end with a bottle," Deardurff said.
By expanding into processing bails of plastic into clean flake on its own, the company will be able to
supply up to 50 million pounds of the 65 to 70 million pounds of plastic it uses each year, Deardurff
said.
"It really is exciting for us because it allows us to be able to strengthen the business that
Phoenix has by having a broader range of the entire process that we have control over."