(La Porte County, IN) - Tax abatement has been awarded on a $70 million plant being constructed to convert food waste into natural gas at Kingsbury Industrial Park.

 

The LaPorte County Council granted the 10 year tax abatement Monday night to Nexus W2V, a leading waste processing solutions firm based in Greenville, South Carolina.

 

Matt Reardon with the LaPorte County Office of Economic Development said the tax abatement is strictly on the estimated $51 million in new equipment to be installed at the facility.

 

He said the projected the tax savings for the company will be about $2 million during the lifespan of the abatement.

 

Reardon said county government, though, will still collect a projected $644,000 in property taxes during the same time period on undeveloped land currently producing just $448 in property taxes.

 

In exchange for the tax breaks, the company agreed to make two separate payments totaling more than $120,000 to county government.

 

The plant will be able to process up to 200 tons of organic material like expired food and ingredients from major food processing plants from places like the Chicago area for use in converting it into natural gas.

 

According to company officials, the facility will produce enough natural gas to operate more than 47,000 homes while reducing the amount of food waste going into landfills.

 

Another source of food waste will include supermarket chains in the region with expired goods like cake mixes and cereal no longer available for sale.

 

Some of the projected 35 workers at the plant will remove food from packaged items for placement into a digester where all of the organic material will be mixed with water or some other liquid then heated.

 

The methane created from decomposition of the slurry will be captured and injected into existing NIPSCO natural gas pipelines for use by consumers.

 

A ground breaking ceremony was recently held at the 28 acre site where the facility is expected to start operating late next year. A similar investment is planned on an expansion at some point after the facility begins running.