The company says the added capacity makes the Clyde, Ohio, site one of the largest rPET facilities in the world.

Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) producer Evergreen has confirmed to Recycling Today it has ordered two additional extrusion lines for its facility in Clyde, Ohio.

The completion of production expansion at its Clyde facility in July made Evergreen one of the three largest producers of rPET in North America, with 217 million pounds of annual capacity, but CEO Omar Abuaita says the addition of the two extrusion lines will make the Clyde site the largest rPET facility in the world.

“Out of the two additional lines, one is already on order and we’re working on the sixth line,” Abuaita says.

Prior the to addition, the Clyde facility had an annual capacity of 113 million pounds of food-grade rPET. The two lines add an additional 27 million to 30 million pounds of capacity each, giving the site an annual capacity of up to 173 million pounds.

Abuaita says customers have been eager for the company to up its production capacity even after the $22 million Clyde upgrade, but Evergreen held off until it could secure enough supply to justify the expansion.

“Our customers would love for us to double our footprint and double our throughput,” he says. “We’d love to do that as well, and we’re willing and able, but until we have security of supply, we don’t do that. That’s not our style.”

He adds, “The reason for that is, the way we go about it is we don’t promise customers supply we cannot fulfill and we wait until we secure the raw material. Once we have security of supply of raw material, we are more than able and willing to write a check for another line or another greenfield facility.”

The Clyde expansion began in 2021 and included a 54,000-square-foot addition that can process 11.8 billion PET bottles annually. The investment included $5 million under the American Beverage Association’s Every Bottle Back initiative in partnership with the Ohio Beverage Association and New York-based Closed Loop Partners.

Last year, Evergreen added facilities in Albany, New York; Amherst, Nova Scotia; and Riverside, California.

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The company also has confirmed it has been certified by the Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) Certification Program in which member organizations are determined to adequately and ethically collect OBP, that the material is well-managed once collected, commercially recyclable OBP is traceable until the final recycled product and noncommercially recyclable OBP is correctly handed and corresponding plastic credits are thoroughly verified and traceable.

Evergreen joins other U.S. companies Ocean Recovery Group LLC, Oceanworks and Return Textiles LLC as certified OBP recycling organizations.

Read more about Evergreen’s expansion at its Clyde facility in the fall edition of Plastics Recycling.

The company is investing to expand its two plants in Anderson, Indiana, and to build a third plant by 2025.

Sirmax North America, the U.S. division of the Sirmax Group, which is based in Italy, was awarded the RACER Edge Award, recognizing the company for redeveloping and reusing a former General Motors Corp. property in Anderson, Indiana. The company also has announced expansion plans for its site in Andersen.

The Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response (RACER) Trust was created in March 2011 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to clean up and position for redevelopment properties and other facilities owned by GM before its 2009 bankruptcy. In addition to Sirmax, Ameresco Inc., Lear Corp. and Saginaw County, Michigan, received recognition this year.

Sirmax has two plants in Anderson and is the first non-U.S. investor to receive the award.

“I would like to thank the state of Indiana and the city of Anderson for their continued support,” says Lorenzo Ferro, country manager of Sirmax North America, “and in particular the RACER Trust for allowing Sirmax to be a key player in a great story and in supporting the community that revolved around the GM plants. Our investment in the Anderson area allowed us to establish our initial presence in North America – a decision which proved positive for the company from the very beginning. This success has enabled us to make further investments in Anderson, and we look forward to continuing our growth in Indiana.”

Sirmax, a manufacturer of polypropylene (PP) compounds, engineering polymers, postconsumer compounds and bio-compounds for various applications, built its first U.S. production plant in 2015. The second plant was added in 2020 and became fully operational this year. The total combined production area of the two plants is 268,000 square feet. The newer plant, which Sirmax invested $35 million in, produces recycled PP from postindustrial material, while the original plant produces polyolefins from virgin materials.

Ferro says Sirmax is planning additional investments in the Anderson property by 2025 that will expand existing buildings and build a third plant. “This will bring the production of thermoplastic elastomers and engineering plastics to the United States, as well.”

Sirmax’s property in Anderson measures roughly 300,000 square meters, or 3.23 million square feet. Its third plant, measuring 12,000 square meters (129,167 square feet) will be used for the production of engineering plastics. Sirmax’s first plant will be extended to house thermoplastic elastomer production and a new warehouse, bringing the total production area from nearly 140,000 square feet to nearly 398,300 square feet. In the second plant, recycled compound production will be increased and upgraded, with the production area growing from roughly 118,400 square feet to slightly more than 290,600 square feet in 2025, the company says.

“Sirmax's presence in Anderson has transformed our community, creating great jobs and returning an idle property to productive reuse,” Anderson Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr. says. “Our Department of Economic Development, the Anderson Redevelopment Commission and the RACER Trust identified Sirmax as a potential investment partner and worked to attract the Italian company to Anderson. We are thrilled that their joint efforts, along with Sirmax's confidence and willingness to invest, are producing such great results.”

“We are very pleased that Sirmax has chosen our Anderson property to establish its presence in the North American market and congratulate the company on its success," says Elliott P. Laws, trustee of RACER Trust. "Sirmax North America is a big win for Anderson and for the RACER Trust.”

Sirmax has 13 production plants globally: six in Italy (Cittadella, Tombolo, Isola Vicentina, San Vito Al Tagliamento, Salsomaggiore Terme and Mellaredo di Pianiga), two in Poland one in Brazil (2012), two in the USA and two in India. The company also has a sales office in Milan and other branches in France, Spain and Germany. Its clients include Whirlpool, Bosch-Siemens, Electrolux, Karcher, Philips, Honeywell, ABB, Technogym, Stellantis, Volkswagen Group, Daimler, De’ Longhi, Haier, BMW and Audi. Sirmax Group had turnover of 480 million euros, or $480.8 million and employed 800 people worldwide in 2021.

Merger backed by investment fund will bring together two PET recyclers.

Latvia-based PET Baltija, which describes itself as one of the largest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recyclers in Northern Europe, has announced an agreement to acquire a Czech PET fiber producer Tesil Fibres s.r.o from its parent Silon s.r.o.

Once final, the transaction will increase PET Baltija’s current revenue by more than 50 percent while also making it an international company. That estimate comes from the Lithuania-based INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, which backed the acquisition.

INVL says Silon will “fully focus on both the production and development of the highest quality polyolefin-based performance compounds” after the sale.

INVL describes Tesil Fibres as a PET fiber supplier to the European market in the automotive, hygienic, textile and furniture sectors. “It is also well known for its high quality standards,” and last year its fiber division recorded sales of about $27 million, according to the fund. Tesil Fibres has production capacity of about 33,000 metric tons annually and has about 150 employees.

Salvis Lapinš, board chair of PET Baltija, says, “This deal will really put PET Baltija on a map as a key international player for the sector. We recognize and are excited by Tesil Fibres’ impressive high growth potential and its dedicated team of professionals. Working closely with the team and other key stakeholders, we plan to develop the company further, accelerating its growth and creating real value for all those involved. By ensuring the supply of best-in-class recycled PET materials, we will look to significantly contribute to the growth of the Tesil Fibres’ business and add greater product differentiation to it. It is also important to mention that through these developments, the overall volume of recycled PET will also increase.”

Deimante Korsakaite, an executive partner at INVL a member of the supervisory board at PET Baltija, adds, “This agreement to acquire reinforces INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund’s goal to significantly expand PET Baltija through both organic growth and bolt-on acquisition strategies. Since our initial investment, PET Baltija alone has more than doubled its revenue and is on track to finalize an organic growth expansion project that will more than triple its food-grade PET production capabilities. This deal will cement the company as a truly international vertically integrated market player that is committed to sustainability and tackling environmental issues. This represents a significant development and leads to become a $100-plus revenue company.”

PET Baltija is part of Eco Baltia, an environmental and waste management group in the Baltics that describes itself as providing waste collection and sorting services, secondary raw material logistics, and raw material processing. Its recycled product portfolio includes PET flakes and granules (including food packaging), of which it says nearly 100 percent is exported.

The INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund is focused on the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the neighboring regions of Poland, Scandinavia and Central Europe.

Event sponsored by Polymer Comply Europe will meet Oct. 13-14 in Brussels.

Two Brussels-based organizations, the Chemical Recycling Europe association and consultancy Polymer Comply Europe, are hosting the 2022 Chemical Recycling Europe Annual Conference at the Renaissance Brussels Hotel Oct. 13-14.

The groups say the conference is convened to present and discuss “topics around the chemical recycling industry and its role in the European Circular Economy.”

The organizers are seeking attendees from several fields related to the industry, including “chemical recycling industry leaders, European Community and regulatory interests, value chain members including polymer producers, waste management, brand owners, recyclers and other stakeholders.”

Among 2022 speakers will be Carlos Monreal, Chemical Recycling Europe’s president and CEO of United Kingdom-based Plastic Energy, and Paul Davidson from Innovate UK. More information on the event can be found here.

Mill conversions and paperboard’s role in the circular economy among agenda items in Rotterdam, Netherlands; Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Chicago.

With COVID-19 restrictions having been minimized or eliminated in most parts of the world, paper recyclers will have renewed opportunities to gather in the autumn of 2022, with anticipated events to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Chicago; and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The Recycling Today Media Group will host its annual Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference North America in Chicago Oct. 19-20. About one month later, its Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference Europe event will be held in Rotterdam Nov. 15-16.

The two-day Rotterdam event has been designed to present numerous networking opportunities scheduled before and after seven conference sessions.

While two of those sessions will appeal to paper recyclers who also have an interest in plastic recycling markets, the other five all address topics of keen interest to collectors, sellers and buyers of recovered paper.

The conference’s closing session Nov. 16 will feature veteran paper industry consultant Bill Moore moderating a Paper Mill Buyer’s Panel. The conversation between mill buyers (and audience members) has been a traditional favorite of attendees of the conference, which was created in 2005.

The previous day, a keynote presentation will look at circular economy and Green Deal policies and how they affect private sector recyclers. Presenters at this opening session will be Ulrich Leberle of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and Andreas Krawczik, a board member of the European Waste Management Association (FEAD).

Later in the morning, a session focused on packaging will include a presentation from Jurgita Girzadien, sustainability manager for global board producer Smurfit Kappa.

The afternoon of Nov. 15 in Rotterdam, a session called “The Paper Chain Within Europe (And Beyond)” will look at several issues affecting paper recyclers in Europe, including the numerous investments away from graphic papermaking and toward packaging.

Another session called “Walls And Bridges: Trade In The 2020s” will examine trade and freight issues. That session will be moderated by Simon Ellin of the United Kingdom-based The Recycling Association.

About one month prior, paper recyclers will have their choice of attending the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) autumn convention, which includes an open meeting of its Paper Division Oct. 18, or, at nearly the same time, the 2022 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference in Chicago Oct. 19-20. That event is preceded by a one-day MRF Operations Forum that looks at technology changes and other dynamics in the material recovery facility (MRF) subsector.

At the two-day conference that follows, scheduled speakers and panelists are being drawn from numerous North American and global companies, including Cascades, Kruger Recycling, Grief, Maersk, Pratt Recycling and Sonoco.

More information on the two Recycling Today Media Group events can be found here.