Plantd Expands Operations to Produce Carbon-Negative Building Materials in Ex-Tobacco Facility
Plantd signs commercial lease for manufacturing facility in Oxford, North Carolina, and partners with local farmers to grow fast-growing perennial grass instead of tobacco.
OXFORD, N.C., May 3, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Today, Plantd, an advanced production technologies company manufacturing carbon-negative building materials using fast-growing perennial grass, has announced its celebratory ribbon-cutting event for its new production facility and headquarters in Oxford, North Carolina, scheduled for Friday, May 5. After securing its Series A funding in December, Plantd moved quickly to expand operations. The company signed a commercial lease for the new space in February.
The 80,000-square-foot warehouse and offices were originally occupied by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a subsidiary of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, to produce cigarettes. An anchor facility for the town of Oxford, the location provided local jobs and farming contracts to this historic hub for manufacturing and agriculture.
When the facility was shuttered in 2022, local tobacco farmers lost their contracts. Plantd aims to work with these farmers by extending new contracts to grow Plantd's proprietary perennial grass. Plantd's commercial farming operations commenced earlier this spring in partnership with the company's first farmer in the region. After harvest this fall, the grass will be shipped to Plantd's Oxford production facility and manufactured into carbon-negative structural building panels for the homebuilding industry.
Plantd has already filled over a dozen positions with residents of Oxford and the surrounding areas of Granville County, and will continue to hire locally for jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and agriculture operations.
"Plantd is innovating across the entire value chain for building materials, cultivating new sources of biomass that allow trees to remain in the ground and pioneering new machines and production technologies that remove cost and carbon emissions at every stage of business operations," said Josh Dorfman, co-founder and CEO of Plantd. "In Oxford, we see an unparalleled opportunity to reshape the construction industry, build a credible climate change solution, and bridge this rural region into the 21st-century economy. Integrating into the economic and social fabric of this area is the foundation we will build upon to drive positive impact at the local, national, and global levels."
Plantd is now preparing to construct the first of its automated, modular, all-electric production lines at its new facility, with a target to open within the next 12 months.
About Plantd
Plantd develops advanced production technologies to manufacture carbon-negative building materials using fast-growing perennial grass instead of trees. Through its cultivation of a new agricultural supply chain to its development of all new, all-electric, modular, automated production technology, Plantd transforms past atmospheric carbon emissions into superior-performance building materials that lower costs for builders and reverse the effects of climate change. Learn more at https://www.plantdmaterials.com.
Source: Plantd
