September 20, 2014 – Rob Earnshaw
The vacant Hammond Recycling building has been purchased by a company with plans to turn it into a state-of-the-art recycling facility complete with new jobs.
JJS Recycling Factory officials say they will develop a significant operation of recycling plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, and manufacture it for use in the textile and food industry.
“This process produces zero emissions and is exceedingly eco-friendly,” Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said.
JJS will assume the city’s contractual obligation to provide shredding service for Lake County and municipalities, Hammond officials said.
McDermott said the company has been doing major renovations after purchasing the facility for $500,000. More than $1 million in equipment is expected at the facility, 625 Conkey St., and plans are to hire about 25 workers over the next year.
“Within a couple years, JJS has reasonable expectations of doubling the workforce and expanding the building and investment in the city of Hammond,” McDermott said.
JJS Recycling President Misko Obradovic, who has been in the recycling business in Serbia and Europe, said he’s happy to be in Hammond.
“We’ll do our utmost to make the city proud,” he said through a translator.
JJS Vice President Peter Manous said the facility will be a great asset for the city and a tremendous asset to environmental containment in terms of stopping waste from going into landfills.