Pacific PET Recycling's plant can process from 25 million to 30 million pounds of PET plastics annually.
Pacific PET Recycling LLC, a newly formed company that is a joint venture among the owners of Denton Plastics, RGN Investments and the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC), has officially opened its processing plant in St. Helens, Ore.
When fully operational, the $10 million 50,000-square-foot plant will be able to wash and grind from 25 to 30 million pounds of PET plastics per year.
Dennis Denton, president of Denton Plastics and a principal of Pacific PET Recycling, says the company will consume PET bottles collected through the OBRC program as well as from independent recycling companies in the Northwestern U.S. Once the material is washed and ground, the plastics will be sold to a number of domestic consumers that will convert the material into a wide range of applications.
To help with the project, Pacific PET Recycling LLC received loan guarantees from the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture), as well as incentives from state and local government agencies.
The company already has sold 25 truckloads of the processed PET on the spot market and is in negotiations with major consumers to take in more of the material, Denton says.