Coca-Cola Mexico, Bottlers Look to Expand PET Recycling

Coca-Cola Mexico, along with bottlers Arca Continental, Embotelladora Bepensa, Yoli Acapulco, Corporacion del Fuerte, Corporacion Rica, Embotelladora del Nayar and Embotelladora de Colima, have agreed to invest $34 million to double the capacity of PetStar SA de CV’s food-grade PET recycling facility in Toluca, near Mexico City. PetStar is a division of Avangard Innovative, a Houston-based plastics recycling company.

When complete, the expanded facility is expected to recycle 120 million pounds of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) per year, making it the largest food-grade PET recycling facility in Latin America, according  Coca-Cola Mexico.

PetStar’s initial PET recycling facility, opened during the second quarter of 2009, has a capacity of 64 million pounds per year.

The groundbreaking ceremony, held June 8, 2012, included representatives from Coca-Cola Mexico, bottlers involved in the project, the governor of the state of Mexico and a representative from the Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

Miguel Angel Rabago Vite, chairman of Petstar, said, "In order to fulfill our goal to incorporate as much recycled material in packaging our drinks, we now take this step that Petstar double its recycling capacity to process an additional 60,000 tons of PET per year, equivalent to 200 million bottles, and turn them to cleanly and efficiently recycled PET resin food grade to make new bottles. This expansion project represents an investment of $ 34 million and will create 500 direct jobs and 6,000 indirect jobs.”