County of Franklin issued the following announcement on Oct. 17.
A pair of stops in Franklin County brought North Carolina’s chief executive to hear about innovative businesses in the county.
Governor Roy Cooper made two stops Tuesday in Franklin County, getting an opportunity to hear from industry executives who are working on innovative approaches to solving real-world problems. During a tour at PRTI led by CEO Chris Hare, Cooper saw firsthand the facility and learned more about the process of de-vulcanizing tires – turning those tires into energy and avoiding landfills.
PRTI uses its process of de-vulcanization to melt tires and convert them into energy which could power a data center. The company was founded and headquartered in Franklin County where Hare said they plan to scale the model plant and build more sites to convert tires into energy.
“When you think maybe about ten years from now, maybe five years from now, when this business is going strong and making such a positive impact, we can say that it started in Franklin County, North Carolina,” Cooper said.
State Senator Sarah Crawford, Representative Matthew Winslow, Franklin County Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Schriver, County Manager Kim Denton, Economic Development Director Richie Duncan, Mayor Fonzi Flowers, and Sheriff Kent Winstead joined Cooper in touring the facility.
After touring the site, Cooper made his way to downtown Franklinton where he met Rene Garza, President of Novozymes, for a brief exchange highlighting Novozyme’s commitment to sustainable growth and bringing the power of biology and science to solve real-world problems. Novozymes, a biotechnology company, has its North American headquarters employing over 700 in Franklinton.
In addition to speaking with Garza, Cooper was able to tour United Way’s Mobile Innovation Lab, a Novozymes-funded project which is a converted school bus that provides hands-on demonstrations of how technology works and brings the classroom into the community.
The governor’s trip highlighted the investment and innovation that the county’s industries bring to Franklin County and the State of North Carolina.
Original source can be found here.
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