NuCycle Energy: A fast-growing company steeped in sustainability and a diverse mix of green jobs

NuCycle Energy is a rapidly expanding materials management company that opened its doors in Plant City just two years ago. The company has quickly found its footing and attracted customers across the United States, taking materials normally destined for a landfill and transforming it into clean, cost-effective alternative fuels. NuCycle is building its workforce to help sustain its ambitious growth. Chris St. Peters, chief operating officer for NuCycle Energy, shared his insights on the advantages of working for the company and the types of positions available for job seekers.

A company on a mission

We manufacture a highly engineered alternative fuel that replaces fossil fuels such as coal. We take materials that normally would be destined for the landfill, and we reduce them, blend and make them into an environmental fuelcube that is used in the making of cement. And 100% of the material that we take in gets utilized. So, when you come here, you are coming to a company that is taking material that would be destined for the landfill and making a forever product out of it. We replace coal “one for one,” so it’s a lot of material that doesn’t go to a landfill and coal that doesn’t get extracted from the ground. When you get hired here, you’re coming to a place with a sustainability initiative that helps companies, including Fortune 500 companies from across the United States, obtain their zero landfill goals.

A growing startup with a tight-knit culture

It’s a great place if you want to be in a green job at a growing manufacturing company. We’re a young company that started in March 2019. This is an opportunity to get in on the bottom floor of a startup. We plan to expand to open five more plants in the United States in the next three years. If you come here and prove yourself, there are going to be lots of opportunities for you in the future. We think it’s an exciting place to be. We’re very team-oriented. Upper management is working out there shoulder to shoulder with the people on the manufacturing floor. We all work together every day, that helps make it a fun place to work. We work hard, but we have fun.

Jobs available

We have general skilled labor jobs available. We are looking for operators who could operate skid steers/Bobcat wheel loaders and forklifts. We’re always looking for people who have operated heavy industrial machinery. Sometimes that kind of work can be seasonal, but ours is not – it’s very steady. We have industrial maintenance positions available. We have plant leads and supervisor positions. In the office, we have material procurement positions – people who are going to go out and procure more materials to bring back to the plant for us. We have logistics/customer service positions. We have training positions available – they’ll go out to train our suppliers who provide the materials that help make our fuel. So, we have a wide variety of positions available within the company, and we're looking to fill those right now.

What they look for in job candidates

We’re looking for people that have a great work ethic, are trustworthy and show up every day. We want enthusiastic team players. People who are self-motivated and want to be part of a team atmosphere and who want the opportunity to grow. We want people who dream about what their future will look like. We want people who are goal-oriented. We love people who are focused on the future and are ready to help us grow.

Advancement opportunities

Career growth is important to us, and we work with those individuals that have that drive and want to continue to grow to help them do that. We offer continued training and help people move up from floor level to operator level and into a lead position. If you show that determination and hard work ethic – if you’re punctual and are always looking to make a difference and help the team succeed – then we’re going to help you grow and get new opportunities. We’ve taken people who have come in without any experience driving a forklift or operating a piece of machinery, and we’ve trained those people into those positions. We’ve taken industrial mechanics and made them into our managers and taken material procurement executives and grown them into managers. We’ve taken logistics customer service people and promoted them to logistics manager. There are a lot of chances for advancement here, and we’ve already shown people that the chance to be a leader here is out there on the floor or in the office.

At home in Plant City

Plant City is our headquarters, and we’re really excited to be part of the community. Everyone has welcomed us with open arms, including the mayor, the city manager, the Plant City Economic Development Council, and the Chamber of Commerce, and they’ve all been really great to work with. Plant City Mayor Rick Lott always has this great energy when he talks about the green jobs and sustainability aspect of what we’re doing. We’re very proud to be part of the city. As we continue to grow, we’re looking forward to doing more and more to help Plant City and its residents.