Going Green

UNION GAP  --  A new company announced plans Friday to make sports bottles from recycled aluminum and sell them to outdoor and other specialty retailers nationwide.
Liberty Bottleworks will begin operations in September in a 35,000-square-foot building at 2900 Sutherland Drive in Union Gap, bringing 15 new jobs into the area.
Most of the jobs will be a mix of people working in accounting, sales and marketing and technicians overseeing the manufacturing line. Job levels may reach to 20 by year’s end.
The company plans to ship its first bottles by Oct. 1 and expects to manufacture 300,000 by the end of the year. At full capacity, the facility will be able to produce 1,200 bottles an hour.
Tim Andis said the company already has a half dozen retailers lined up to sell the product, including local outdoor retailer Sporthaus and at stores nationwide from Austin-based grocer Whole Foods and Seattle area outdoor cooperative REI.
The bottle, which comes in a variety of designs, will retail at $16 for a 24-ounce bottle and $18 for a 32-ounce bottle. The product is made with aluminum from mills in the Midwest that will be formed into bottles at the Union Gap facility.
The business idea came two years ago when president Tim Andis, 41, was operating Treeline Sales, which sells high-end outdoor gear to retailers on behalf of outdoor equipment manufacturers.
One of Treeline’s customers, REI, said its customers wanted recycled aluminum bottles made in the U.S.
Andis said he quickly discovered no such product existed. Aluminum bottles have been made in Europe or China.
And none were made from 100 percent recycled material, he said.
Andis decided to develop such a product himself. REI, the company’s main retail partner, was also involved in the product development process.
And he knew he wanted to develop the product in Yakima, where he has lived for more than 14 years.
"This is my home," Andis said. "We wanted to bring some light industrial (activity) to Yakima."
Indeed, Andis has been active in the community. He ran for a position on the West Valley School District board last year, and last week he helped his neighbors during the Cowiche Mill Road fire.
The company’s name — Liberty Bottleworks — is in reference to his wife, who is named Liberty, but it also reflected Andis’ desire to go back to a time where products were manufactured domestically.
It’s a mission that the company takes seriously. Everything from the raw material to the manufacturing line comes from the United States, he said.
In addition, the company has worked with up-and-coming artists to produce bottle designs and it donates a portion of its sales to different environmental organizations, such as the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy.
"It’s part of our credibility, part of our ethics," Andis said.
Andis would not disclose the exact investment, which is funded completely by private investors, but said that it reached into the millions.

The company is still working on getting additional retailers. It contracts with 30 sales reps across the country. Andis will also spend the next week at Outdoor Retailer, a trade show in Salt Lake City for the outdoor industry. The show will serve as industry’s introduction to the new company.
It will focus on specialty retailers rather than mass-merchandise retailers such as Walmart and Target.
"Specialty dealers really want to sell your product at that premium (price)," he said.  
The introduction of the new company was a key victory for New Vision — Yakima County Development Association, the county’s economic development arm.
The organization has worked with Andis in the development of the company, providing resources on potential investors and facility sites.
New Vision has put more emphasis on supporting emerging companies and entrepreneurs, as the competition for attracting new companies becomes global.
Andis was also one of several participants in the organization’s Technology Roadmap Initiative, which provided computerized assessment for new products and additional coaching from the Yakima Valley Entrepreneurs Network.
"I think we can have a portfolio of 10 to 20 companies like (Liberty Bottleworks) going into the Yakima Valley," said New Vision president David McFadden. "We have to be able to grow our own jobs."

• Mai Hoang can be reached at 509-577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.