Development Authority hosts groundbreaking for first of three new businesses in Treutlen

The Treutlen County Development Authority held a groundbreaking ceremony for EcoRubbers on Oct. 26 in the Soperton-Treutlen County Industrial Park, the first of three commemorating new businesses coming to the area.

“Ecorubbers is honored today to officially begin the construction of this processing facility,” said Sean Register of the Treutlen County Development Authority.

EcoRubbers is a company which deals in rubber-based products, such as “premium artificial crumb rubber, truck sidewalls and interlocking heavy duty rubber tile” according to the companies website. These products are made by breaking down and recycling old tires, reusing the rubber in them to create “environmentally friendly artificial rubber crumb and modern rubber products.”

According to Register, EcoRubbers investment in Treutlen County is “about $20 million.” The company will bring 45 jobs to the county with an “average hourly wage” of $23 per hour. Register introduced four speakers during the ceremony, including three local officials and one representative from EcoRubbers.

The first to speak was Luke Kicklighter, who serves as Chairman of the Development Authority Board. Kicklighter lauded the revitalization of the local downtown area and said the introduction of companies such as EcoRubbers helped to combat complacency which could spell the end of the community.

“One lesson I’ve learned over the years is the kiss of death for a community is for our leadership to take the mindset that, ‘We like things the way they are; we don’t want things to change,’” said Kicklighter. 

Following Kicklighter, Register introduced the Treutlen County Board of Commissioners’ Chairman Phil Jennings and Soperton Mayor John Koon as the next two speakers respectively. Both thanked the development authority and EcoRubbers for the investment in the community.

“We look for a long, long standing relationship, and we look forward to seeing what EcoRubbers is going to do,” said Mayor Koon.

The final speaker was EcoRubber’s Andrew Wang, who described the project as a “state of the art” tire processing facility which would be used to create several of EcoRubbers’ products.

“We looked at several sites in Georgia, and Treutlen County was by far the best place for our business,” said Wang.

Following the speeches, representatives of the Soperton City Council, Treutlen County Board of Commissioners, Treutlen County Development Authority Board and EcoRubbers all posed for photos with gold-plated shovels.

Attendees were also offered Subway sandwiches and refreshments brought by Deborah Ferre, owner of the local Subway and member of the development authority’s board.

The development authority will hold two more groundbreaking ceremonies for more companies investing in Treutlen County, though those dates have not been announced. According to Kicklighter, the second ceremony was originally scheduled on the same week as EcoRubbers’, but had to be delayed.