Circularix, Republic Services sign rPET supply agreement

Los Angeles-based Circularix, which produces food-grade recycled PET (rPET) pellets from recycled PET flakes at its site in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, says it has signed a supply agreement to source some of its postconsumer PET flake from Republic Services’ Polymer Centers.    

Circularix’s site in Hatfield can produce 55 million pounds of food-grade rPET pellets annually. The company says it has a second plant coming online in the first half of this year in Ocala, Florida. In a previous interview with Recycling Today, Leon Farahnik, CEO of Circularix, said the company plans five plants in total, with the next three being in Texas, Arizona and the Pacific Northwest. The company says it plans to produce 275 million pounds of rPET pellets per year across all five facilities.

In the news release announcing the agreement with Republic, Farahnik, says, "We are committed to sustainable practices and are excited to collaborate with Republic Services to accelerate the buildup of domestic recycling capabilities. This agreement aligns with our environmental goals and our dedication to providing beverage brands and CPG [consumer packaged goods] companies the material needed to make good on their sustainability commitments." 

"Through our Polymer Center network, we're helping customers achieve their ambitious recycled content goals by producing high-quality recycled plastics for use in sustainable packaging," says Pete Keller, Republic Services vice president of recycling and sustainability. "Our agreement with Circularix will promote true plastics circularity, enabling a PET bottle to be recycled into a new PET bottle."   

Circularix says the agreement represents a proactive response to the growing demand for sustainable packaging solutions.

Cirularix is a joint venture between HPC Industries LLC, Los Angeles, the former owner of defunct bottle-to-bottle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycler CarbonLite, which also was based in Los Angeles, and Australia-based Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Markets group.

Republic Services opened its first Polymer Center in late 2023 in Las Vegas. The Polymer Center processes plastic bottles, jugs and containers collected from homes and businesses to produce rPET flake and color-sorted high-density polypropylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) for use in new packaging.

Republic plans a nationwide network of four Polymer Centers. The company and Ravago, its partner in Blue Polymers LLC, broke ground in Indianapolis in November of last year on a plastics recycling complex that will house a Republic Services Polymer Center and Blue Polymers advanced polymer production facility. Through Blue Polymers, Republic and Ravago are developing a network of facilities designed to produce 100 percent-postconsumer-recycled (PCR) resin to supply plastic manufacturers’ growing demand for sustainable solutions.