PWP Industries is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, June 2, at its new 80,000-square-foot in-house plastics recycling facility in Davisville, W. Va.
According to PWP Industries Chairman and CEO Leon Farahnik, the new recycling center will be one of the first for a thermoforming company. PWP is working with Coca-Cola Recycling LLC of Atlanta to convert post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-compliant resin for food grade-suitable material.
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin and State Senator Karen L. Facemyer, president of the Polymer Alliance Zone, Inc., will speak at the June 2 event, as will Farahnik. The event schedule includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony, tours of the facility and a catered luncheon.
According to Farahnik, the first phase of the PWP project is estimated to have an annual capacity to recycle 40 million pounds of recycled PET flake and, in the process, cut annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 30,000 tons and reduce annual energy requirements by 398 million kilowatt hours. Manufacturing post-consumer-resin PET uses about two-thirds less energy than production of virgin PET, according to Vernon, Calif.-based PWP.
Coca-Cola Recycling will be the primary supplier of the recycled PET flake that PWP will use in the production of its FDA-compliant resin for the making of food packaging. The limited liability company is a subsidiary of publicly traded Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., a large bottler of Coca-Cola products.
“PWP is making the investment to be ahead of the curve for recycled material in thermoformed packages,” says Farahnik. “We foresee the future, and we’re a firm believer that recycling will have to be part of the program. Our customers will also benefit from our investment in this facility because we'll have a constant, guaranteed supply of material in a market that continues to increase in demand.”