Jobs in some green businesses keep growing
Novozymes currently has about 500 employees with positions still open, and they will soon be in need of dozens more.
FRANKLINTON, N.C. -- The world leader in bioinnovation, a company called Novozymes, has their largest manufacturing plant in the North Carolina city of Franklinton – just 45 minutes north of Raleigh.
There, researchers work with enzymes to invent cleaner technologies and help produce sustainable biofuels. They service over 40 industries, ranging from food to textiles.
“We take what Mother Nature made, enzymes, and it's a natural resource and it's sustainable and it can be used over and over again and it's kinder and gentler to the environment and we apply that to all of these different industries,” explained Paige Donnelly, Novozymes communications manager.
The business is booming, despite the struggling economy. Novozymes saw a 10 percent sales growth last year.
“We feel that here at Novozymes we're at the right place at the right time,” added Donnelly.
A time when the nation is embracing the green movement and protecting the planet equals more jobs to be had at companies like Novozymes. In fact, 750,000 Americans already have what are known as green jobs.
“We think industries are embarking on this and it is definitely a wave of the future, where the focus is not only on profits but on people and the planet, too,” said Charlie Snell, a N.C. State University environmental engineer. “It's called the three ‘P’s’ of sustainability.
Novozymes currently has about 500 employees with positions still open, and they will soon be in need of dozens more.
“We just announced last week the groundbreaking for a new manufacturing plant for us in Blair, Nebraska, and we will be hiring for 100 jobs there over the next year, year and a half,” said Donnelley.