“The petrochemical industry developed around here because of the raw materials that were based here,” Sandy Marshall, the executive director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, tells CBC. “The petrochemical industries thrived here over the years, but it started to peak in around the 1980’s or so. At that period of time, we started looking at, where do we start going from there?”
Origin Materials Canada is building a biobased chemicals plant in Sarnia that will online in 2019. The company’s technology makes a plastic component from corn, wood chips, and cardboard residues.
Alex Ward, manager/open innovation for Origin Materials Canada, says Sarnia was the best fit for building Origin’s first plant because of the presence of both petrochemical and biochemical industries.
“I think it has more potential than the rest of Canada probably realizes.”