By Greentech Lead Team: carbonLITE, a producer of
bottle-grade raw material used to make new bottles, has started operations at
its bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling plant at Riverside, Ca. The plant is
expected to recover more than two billion plastic PET bottles annually from
Curbside and Redemption Value programs in California.
“Companies like carbonLITE are revolutionizing the
recycling industry and dramatically reducing the huge amount of plastic
dumped in California landfills every year,” said California Governor
Edmund G. Brown Jr., during the Ribbon-Cutting ceremony.
carbonLITE specializes in processing used plastic bottles
into bottle-grade PET pellets that can then be used to manufacture new plastic
beverage bottles. This conserves virgin resources, reduces landfills, and
capitalizes on the energy already invested in making existing plastic products.
Products made using PET resin are recyclable and highly
sustainable. PET can be recycled numerous times, turning bottles back
into bottles.
carbonLITE is using a processing method for the PET resin
that has been approved by FDA. The PET resin allowed to be used at levels up to
100 percent recycled content in the manufacture of PET bottles and containers
for direct contact with all food types under cold fill and hot fill conditions.
“carbonLITE is using high-tech innovations to bring
used plastic back to food grade quality. By recycling two billion PET bottles
(12 fl oz) every year, this cutting-edge facility is helping America save 48
million gallons of gas. This is a model of resource recovery and economic
development,” said Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for EPA’s
Pacific Southwest.
Previously, most plastic bottles collected in California
were exported to China and downcycled into polyester fiber. carbonLITE
changed that with the support of their customers like PepsiCo and Nestle Waters
while helping both companies achieve their sustainability goals.
“We’re committed to being the leading
bottle-to-bottle recycler, preserving resources and reducing the carbon
footprint from PET bottle production,” said Leon Farahnik, chairman,
carbonLITE.
The new 220,000 sq-ft, bottle-to-bottle, PET recycling
plant has created over 100 green jobs. carbonLITE plans to double the
capacity to more than four billion PET bottles per year in mid-2013.