Through grants aimed at improving infrastructure, research, and knowledge sharing, the Coalition envisions a thriving PET recycling system that captures significantly more material, improving PET packaging circularity.
“These projects will deliver the types of improvements that we view as being essential to the future of PET recycling,” said Adam Gendell, Director of System Optimization at The Recycling Partnership. “By helping MRFs and PET reclaimers capture and recover more of the material in their facilities, we will see meaningful gains in the amount of PET recycled in the short term, and by helping to grow reclamation capacity, we will ensure that there is robust infrastructure ready to handle future growth in PET recycling. We are pleased that these projects address the entirety of the PET recycling stream – bottles, thermoforms, and pigmented and opaque PET – and we’re excited to build on these early successes with our next rounds of granted projects.”
DAK Americas LLC received a grant to help with the implementation of a new robotic sorter at its PET reclamation facility in Richmond, Indiana. The new robotic sorter will be installed on one of the facility’s outbound lines, capturing PET bottles, thermoforms, and pigmented opaque PET items that were previously commingled with undesired non-PET plastics and other byproduct commodities, allowing the facility to improve its efficiency and produce more recycled content.
Direct Pack Recycling received a grant to assist in the construction of a new PET reclamation operation in Mexicali, Mexico, which will source material from MRFs across the U.S. and produce a significant amount of recycled content for new packaging. Direct Pack Recycling specializes in recycling thermoformed PET packaging like cups, clamshells, and trays, providing an important new outlet for non-bottle PET recycling.
Both DAK Americas LLC and Direct Pack Recycling specialize in recycling pigmented and opaque PET, and these grants enable both facilities to grow and improve their recycling of the entirety of the PET recycling stream.
