Shelbyville newest location for German copper company's recycling hub
Shelby County has been chosen by German copper company, Wieland, as the new home for their North American recycling hub. Executives of the company, as well as the mayor of Shelbyville and Gov. Andy Beshear, broke ground on the new $100M facility on Tuesday.
The facility will house the newest technology to break down copper and copper alloys to create new materials. President of Wieland North America Matt Bedingfield says the company has been around for over 200 years, and the work they plan to do at this recycling hub furthers the company's commitment to helping the environment.
"We're a 200-year-old company. Our biggest challenge is figuring out how to get through our next 200 years," Bedingfield said.
He adds the age of the company is a testament to the facility's job stability.
"These are 50 to 100-year assets, so they're going to be here for a very long time, so the jobs that are created here are going to stay here. The economic growth that it drives will stay here," Bedingfield said.
Bedingfield adds that the jobs the facility will provide will not only be sustainable, but also are high-quality jobs.
"The automation we're putting in place will take the manual sorting out of this," Bedingfield said. "People aren't bent over sorting scrap, they're programming the equipment, optimizing the equipment, figuring out how we can get the most out of the assets."
Beshear also attended the festivities Tuesday. He addressed the room after the groundbreaking citing that this facility is just another testament to the economic growth happening in the commonwealth.
"For the first time in my lifetime, these companies that are building the most sophisticated facility of their kind in the world are picking us. They are picking us," Beshear said.
Mayor of Shelbyville David Eaton adds that this is not the first time that the city has gotten a look for new business. With the location of Shelbyville, just a few miles east of Louisville on I-64, the mayor hopes this won't be the last time either.
"The result [of our location] is we've got companies looking at us consistently and constantly. So we've really got the opportunity to do big things here, and I'm really excited about the direction we're moving," Eaton said.
For more information on Wieland and the recycling facility coming to Shelbyville, visit their website here.