IRG Erie, Inc. (IRG) is canceling its plans to develop a plastics recycling plant in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The company cited challenges on several fronts preventing it from successfully raising the $300 million financing needed for the project. Among these challenges is a hold, of unspecified duration, placed on funding commitments issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. Additional challenges include recently-announced tariffs on materials and on equipment from Europe not made in the US, resulting in expectations of substantially higher project development costs than anticipated, as well as difficulties in securing long-term purchase agreements for recycled materials from plastics manufacturers and consumer product groups, many of whom are cutting back on sustainability pledges.
The IRG project would have converted 160,000 tons per year of post-consumer waste plastic into approximately 100,000 tons per year of recycled plastic materials to replace virgin plastics. It also would have produced roughly 20,000 tons per year of CleanRed™ from residual plastic output. CleanRed™ lowers emissions in the steelmaking process and has been used for decades in Europe and Asia. The project would have resulted in zero plastic waste going to landfill as well as lower emissions in the steel manufacturing process.
“Over four years ago, we brought the IRG project to Erie with the intention of creating high paying, family-sustaining jobs and turning Erie into a leader in environmental sustainability by replacing new plastic production with reused and recycled materials gathered from homes across the region. I am personally devastated after 18 years of working to bring this vision to a reality that we have failed to overcome these challenges,” said Mitch Hecht, the company’s founder and chief executive officer.
It was not for lack of support from virtually everyone in the city of Erie, which has been tremendous from the very first day we brought our vision to the city in October 2019. I want to extend my deepest thanks to the Erie community, including all its elected officials, community leaders on Erie’s eastside, and the many Erie residents concerned about the environment that supported our efforts over the past four years. I especially want to thank Erie Insurance and the Prischak family of Plastek Group for making a substantial investment in a bold and groundbreaking vision for Erie’s future. Enormous thanks go to community leaders Andre Horton and Gary Horton for their time, dedication, and belief in the potential this project held for Erie’s eastside, and, finally, to the administration and faculty at Penn State Behrend for lending their substantial support and expertise.”
The newBin collection service in the Erie community has also been suspended. The company will be removing the remaining material that has been collected. Portions of the materials previously collected were used in research and development on the CleanRed product, with the remaining materials being held in inventory for processing in the IRG plant. The material is being retained in secure containers and will be removed in the coming days. None of this material is classified HAZMAT. If a recycling buyer cannot be found, the material will be sent to landfill. The company is following all protocols to ensure that the materials will be processed and shipped in an environmentally sound manner.
No government funding was used in the development of the project with the exception of an approximately $300,000 loan from the Erie County Redevelopment Authority as partial payment for the company’s site at 1565 East Lake Rd. This loan is secured by a lien on the property and is expected to be repaid in full. Commonwealth grants that had been offered to IRG under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and Rail Assistance Program were never accessed.
Published April 2025
