STAFF REPORT
An Austin-based electronics recycling company has acquired the former Palm Harbor facility in Kyle.
Image Microsystems says the 100,000-square-foot plant, at 3700 Kyle Crossing, will be used for electronic waste recovery, recycling and manufacturing processes. The company collects old printer cartridges and computer scrap, grinds it into plastic “dough” and presses it into sheets to be used for such things as stop signs and speed limit signs. Image calls the process MicroStrate signage manufacturing.
“Our new Kyle plant is just the first of five planned e-waste recycling and MicroStrate sign substrate manufacturing facilities we have planned,” CEO Alex Abadi said in a news release.
Due to high demand for the company’s signage and growth in the asset recovery business, the company says it is launching an expansion program that will eventually include the investment of more $30 million and facilities in California, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania in addition to the Kyle plant.
“Once our extensive remodeling process has been completed in Kyle, we’ll be able to process over a quarter million pounds of e-waste plastic daily,” Abadi said.
Image Microsystems was founded in 1992.
Palm Harbor Homes shuttered its Kyle plant last spring, laying off nearly 130 people.