A potential “green” industry could bring jobs to Joanna, and keep local waste out of landfills.

A Florida-based company, Waste Not Technologies (WNT), has named Joanna just west of the Newberry County line as a site for a potential new plant. The facility would use solid waste raw materials to create new products.

The environmentally-friendly products produced by the company include countertops, building materials, railroad ties, pallets and insulation.

The 800,000 square foot plant is expected to eventually employ around 1,400 people and be built on one of two possible sites in Joanna.

County Councilman Edgar Baker, who represents the Whitmire and Kinards area of Newberry County near the plant, sees the industry as a possible boost for those who have faced unemployment with the closure of Whitmire’s Renfro plant.

“A lot of people from this area would apply for jobs,” he said, adding that a number of Whitmire residents already travel to Joanna to work at Norbord.

He adds that Joanna is just 17 miles from Whitmire, which is about the same distance as traveling between Newberry and Whitmire.

About 95 percent of the waste taken in by the plant would leave the facility in the form of new materials, diverting it from landfills.

Unused waste would be mixed with coal and make into fuel pellets to decrease the plant’s carbon footprint.

One factor in the industry’s willingness to locate in Joanna will be if neighboring counties, such as Newberry, would agree to have its waste delivered to the facility.

Laurens County officials have been working with the plant for about a year and it will take another few months before the firm makes a commitment to building in Joanna.

Waste Not Technologies’ parent company is Global Green USA and has broken ground for a plant in Kentucky and has two other plants proposed for Michigan and Oklahoma.