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Practically next door to the Marion County Waste-to-Energy Facility in Brooks, a Beaverton company wants to build a plant to produce synthetic oil from recycled plastic.

Claudia Davis, an air quality expert for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said AG Plastic Reclaim LLC’s plans have nothing to do with the location of Marion County’s garbage-burning facility.

“It has more to do with being near the company’s plastic feedstock,” she said.

An informational meeting and public hearing will be held on the project at 6 p.m. Nov. 20 at the DEQ‘s Salem office at 750 Front St. N.E., Suite 120.

Davis said company officials want to build a plant where they can take recycled plastic and create a synthetic substance similar to crude oil. The synthetic oil would be refined elsewhere, she said, before it would be put to any use.

Any plastic processed would be prescreened to make sure it was free of harmful polyvinyl chlorides, she added.

AG Plastic Reclaim LLC has submitted an application for an air permit from the DEQ. Tuesday’s meeting is a precursor to company executives obtaining that permit. DEQ officials will accept oral and written testimony on the proposal following the informational meeting.

Davis said what the company is proposing is a clean operation that should have little impact on the air. More information is available by calling DEQ permit writer Karen White Fallon at 503-378-5315.