E-waste company plans expansion in Holtsville

Properly disposing of the rising tide of old computers, monitors and cellphones is a growing business for Coram-based Suffolk Industrial Recovery Corp. which plans a $4.4 million expansion. On Thursday, the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency gave preliminary approval of tax subsidies for the company, which does business as PK Metals, and two other companies valued at an estimated $518,500.

PK Metals is planning to purchase a 56,000-square-foot building in Holtsville and outfit it to recycle “e-waste” and industrial plastic.

“We really can’t fit any more material in the yard,” company president Philip Fava told the IDA board. “It just keeps coming in.”

Recycling and disposing of the waste from our high tech world keeps dangerous compounds like lead and cadmium out of landfills where they can leach into groundwater. To support the expansion, which Fava said will add 20 jobs in the first year to their 73-person staff, the IDA gave preliminary approval to a sales tax exemption, mortgage recording tax exemption and property tax break valued at approximately $235,000 over 12 years.

Also on Thursday, the IDA gave preliminary approval of $48,500 of tax breaks for cloud-computing software company VLI North America, a Huntington-based subsidiary of a British company that plans to purchase $122,000 of equipment.

Deer Park-based A & Z Pharmaceutical Inc. plans to invest $3.3 million in renovating a Hauppauge building to manufacture pharmaceuticals for export to China and Europe. The IDA gave preliminary approval for tax breaks worth an estimated $235,000 over 10 years.