A Coca Cola PET bottle recycling facility in the United States has been put up for sale, according to sources.
Plastics News is reporting that Carlos Gutierrez, who is president and chief executive of Coca Cola’s joint venture partner United Resource Recovery has been given permission to put the plant on the market.
It says more than half a dozen source have confirmed to it that the plant is up for sale. One said: “My understanding is that Coke wants out and has given Carlos the freedom to shop the plant. They have had people [potential buyers] in the plant over the past two months.”
The plant, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, closed in March after being beset by a series of problems to produce food grade PET.
In response to questions from Plastics News, Gutierrez would not confirm the reports. He said: “At present, the company is not at liberty to discuss publically current plans for the future of the facility. As soon as we have something concrete to report, we will.”
Coca Cola has a target of sourcing 25 per cent of its PET from recycled or renewable material by 2015, and to recover half of the equivalent bottles and cans used by the same year.
