WM to close Natura PCR

Houston-based waste and recycling company WM has closed its Natura PCR film recycling operation in Waller, Texas, at least for now.

The operation, which consists of five buildings on a 150-acre campus located northwest of Houston, opened a new $150 million facility in late 2024. The building spans 270,000 square feet and was expected to help the company mechanically process millions of pounds of low-density and linear low-density polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE) per month, turning the material into pellets for end users.

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Natura sourced its film from retail accounts as well as from residential collections.

In a statement, WM tells Recycling Today, “Due to adverse market conditions and decreasing customer demand for LDPE and LLDPE PCR [postconsumer resin] pellets processed at Natura PCR, the plant has been temporarily closed. If market conditions and demand for PCR pellets improve, WM may evaluate the potential of reopening the facility.”

In September 2022, WM acquired a controlling interest in the United States-based business of film recycler Avangard Innovative, also headquartered in Houston. The company’s name was changed to Natura PCR, and WM said at the time it expected to expand its operation to produce an estimated 400 million pounds of PCR per year within five years.

In early 2023, Natura received a letter of nonobjection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration enabling the company’s PCR to be used in direct food-contact packaging applications, including packaging for foods stored at room temperature and for refrigerated and frozen foods.

During a panel discussion at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in March, WM Vice President of Recycling Brent Bell said all of Natura’s customers were located domestically, “though we’re always looking for any buyers of that material.”

“Much like a lot of the folks in plastics, the economics have struggled a little bit,” Bell said of recycled resin markets overall, though he added that the Natura investment appeared to be “going in the right direction” after the new facility's 2024 startup.