World's largest bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling plant opens in US

carbonLITE, a producer of bottle-grade raw material used to make new bottles, was joined by California Governor Edmund G Brown Jr to announce the official opening of the world's largest bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling plant, according to a press release from the company.

Located in Riverside, California, the US, the 220,000 sq-ft plant has created over 100 green jobs and will recover more than two billion plastic PET bottles annually from California's Curbside and Redemption Value programs, says carbonLITE.

"carbonLITE is using high-tech innovations to bring used plastic back to food grade quality," Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator, Pacific Southwest, for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , is quoted as saying. "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."

Previously, most plastic bottles collected in California were exported to China and downcycled into polyester fiber. carbonLITE says it is changing that with the support of its customers like PepsiCo and Nestle Waters while helping both companies achieve their sustainability goals.

carbonLITE Chairman Leon Farahnik states, "We're committed to being the leading bottle-to-bottle recycler, preserving resources and reducing the carbon footprint from PET bottle production."

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.

carbonLITE remarks that products made using PET resin are recyclable and highly sustainable. PET can be recycled numerous times, turning bottles back into bottles. The PET resin offered by carbonLITE will have been processed using a method that has received an LNO (letter of non-objection) from the FDA, allowing it to be used at levels up to 100% recycled content in the manufacture of PET bottles and containers for direct contact with all food types under cold fill and hot fill conditions.