Sustainable fertilizer plant planned at St. Louis riverfront

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A Canadian company plans to a $25 million revamp of an existing building along St. Louis’ riverfront to make what it calls sustainable fertilizer.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc. plans a retrofit of an idle nitrogen factory just north of the McKinley Bridge that it says will create 40 jobs.

The plant is scheduled to go online next year and scale up to produce 200,000 tons a year of its proprietary fertilizer, Crystal Green, which the company says limits phosphorous runoff.

Ostara executives say they selected the St. Louis site because of the city’s close proximity to major Midwest agricultural markets.