SCIENTIFIC MINDS WANTED
This Springdale company is keeping millions of pounds of plastic out of our landfills.
AERT , which stands for Advanced Environmental Recycling Tech-
nologies, uses recycled plastic and wood fiber to create composite
decking, window and door components, and other building
products. It takes a team of machine operators, materials han-
dlers, programmers, lab staff and others to complete the process,
which you can watch by scanning the code with your phone.
“Each year, we recycle 100 million pounds of polyethylene – the
type of plastic found in many kinds of food packaging,” says
Al Drinkwater, AERT’s senior vice president. “We are one of
the largest polyethylene recyclers in the United States and offer
many different careers people may not know about.”
Carla Romere is the IT director. She’s in charge of all the compa-
ny’s computer resources, but admits she didn’t know much about
AERT when she first started.
“A temp agency sent me over to be an administrative assistant,” she
6 |
SPRINGDALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
recalls. “I didn’t know anything about the company; it was just a job.”
She turned that job into a career by using her computer skills to earn a
promotion from administrative assistant to database administrator.
“Most of my skills are self taught. Building databases and pro-
gramming are my passion,” she says. After moving to the IT
department, Romere attended NWACC where she earned an
Associate degree in computer information systems. The company
helped pay for her classes.
When it comes to starting a career at AERT, Romere says you need
to be willing to keep learning new things – even outside of work. The
IT department has a long list of needed skills including networking,
programming, database administration and cyber security.
She says you should also be honest and loyal. “This is a good
company. If you are loyal to them, they’ll be loyal to you. I love the
people I work with and what we do.”