NOVA's 2-Billion Project Progresses.

From the Lambton Shield.

It’s been a year since NOVA Chemicals first announced its decision to build a new polyethylene facility—a second Advanced SCLAIRTECH  technology facility (AST2) located at the new Rokeby Site in St. Clair Township.

Now the company has provided an update on its progress. With preliminary work started in late 2017, since then the site has undergone a dramatic transformation.

Highlights include:

—A berm that was built to mitigate sound coming from the future facility.

—Trucks have delivered over 60,000 tonnes of gravel to create roadways and parking lots on-site.

—Rokeby Line was upgraded to accommodate increased traffic volumes.

—The new main access road into the site was built and opened.


Link to the rest here.

Image. NOVA handout.


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The Benefits of Hiring and Retaining Older Workers.

From Louis Pin, Sarnia Observer.

Sarnia’s workforce is not getting any younger. One in every four people in the regional is now 55 years or older and the average age of residents in Sarnia and Lambton County is 45, a full four years older than the provincial mark.

Those numbers are not expected to decrease any time soon.

That’s the crux of a seminar Nov. 7 hosted by the Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board, about how local businesses can improve by hiring and retaining older workers. The employer-focused session will come with two reports surrounding Sarnia’s workforce, local trends, and suggestions for business owners.

“Flexibility is going to be key,” said Shauna Carr, executive director of the development board. “We’re finding a lot of our older folks want to re-enter the workforce . . . if employers are flexible (with their needs) they’re going to get and keep really great older workers.”

Having older workers pays dividends, Carr added, both in teaching younger workers and fostering the soft skills employers say are lacking in the workforce. Those soft skills include teamwork, punctuality, customer service, and other job-applicable actions not addressed in a degree.

It remains one of the qualities most requested by employers in the annual Employer One survey, conducted by the development board every January.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Courtesy Shauna Carr, Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board.

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Cutting-Edge Technology Game Changer for Sarnia-Lambton Recycling Firm.

From Troy Shantz, the Sarnia Journal.


A cutting-edge Sarnia recycling company has joined an international partnership to reduce the mountains of hard-to-recycle polystyrene plastic going to landfills and polluting waterways.

“This is a game-changer for consumers and for municipal and industrial, commercial and institutional recycling programs,” said Keith Bechard, chief commercial officer at Sarnia-based ReVital Polymers.

“Polystyrene packaging, regardless of colour, food residue or odours, can be very successfully added to recycling programs.”

The strategic partnership announced last month involves Revital, Montreal-based Pyrowave Inc. and Germany’s INEOS Styrolution.

Single-serve polystyrene products such as foam coffee cups, food packaging and utensils used in supermarkets and take-out restaurants will be recycled, turned into a virgin resin and used to make new products.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Google Street View.

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