A new business has opened its doors in Orange.

SMH Polymers is a plastic recycler of baled and flake PET, HDPE, LPDE & PP material.

“We reprocess it to a useable form,” Country Manager Eddie Lewis said. “We do not create finished products but bring plastic back to a raw form.”

Lewis said he is originally from Orange and was excited to locate the company in his hometown.

“I know and like Orange. It is not far from Houston and major cities in Louisiana,” Lewis said. “It is not as convenient as Houston, it’s better.”

The new facility houses the best equipment for what the company does according to Lewis.

“We started this from nothing,” Lewis said. “We expect to be a large company employing a large number of people.”

PET is of the polyester family and is used in beverage, food and other liquid containers. PET can be semi-rigid to rigid and is very lightweight. It is commonly found in soft drink bottles, cooking oil bottles, and peanut butter jars.

High-density polyethelene (HDPE) is harder and more opaque and can withstand somewhat higher temperatures. It is commonly found in milk jugs, distilled water, large vinegar bottles, grocery bags, liquid laundry and dish detergent, fabric softener, motor oil, antifreeze, bleach and lotion.

Low-density polyethelene (LDPE) can be translucent or opaque, is flexible, tough, and almost unbreakable. It is commonly used in dry-cleaning bags; produce bags, trash can liners, food storage containers, bread bags, squeezable containers, six-pack soda can rings, and food storage.

PP is often used for food packaging. It’s not as tough as HDPE, but it is less brittle. PP is less flexible than LDPE, somewhat stiffer than other plastics, and reasonably economical. It is commonly found in bottle caps, drinking straws, hinged containers, battery cases, dairy tubs (e.g. sour cream, cottage cheese), and cereal box liners.