An old factory in Aurora is getting a new life. The Pratt Building is slated to become the largest operations hub for recycling company TerraCycle. The company operates in 20 countries.
The building, which is nearly the size of two football fields, has been turned into a hub where hard-to-recycle items like coffee pods, lightbulbs and batteries can be received, sorted and recycled.
TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky said that when they were looking to find a home for a distribution center, Aurora’s location in the middle of the country just made sense.
“We always, as a purposeful business, try to look at not building new buildings, but taking over existing infrastructure so we can give old buildings a new life," he said. "And that's why the Pratt building was such a wonderful location, because it had the right bones and infrastructure for us. So we've been able to come in here, get it ready, and now it's a fully operational recycling facility for TerraCycle.”
Szaky and Aurora Mayor John Laesch hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday as well as a guided tour through the transformed building.
The mayor said it’s part of an overall goal towards attracting sustainable businesses to the city. It’s also a move towards revitalizing the industrial area of Aurora.
CEO Szaky said the city was uniquely positioned to be the home for this facility.
“Aurora has been a great location, not just because of the available building in the Pratt building, but also because the city is focused on supporting environmental business," he said. "We just feel really at home here, and very much look forward to staying and continuing to grow and add more jobs on a on a daily basis.”
Szaky also said they’ve since added 40 jobs to the area and hope to add jobs every year.
The Pratt Building is one of the city’s most recognizable buildings. It was the site of a deadly shooting in 2019, where 6 people were killed including the gunman.