Coca Cola PET recycling plant to re-open

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The troubled Coca Cola PET recycling facility in the United States is set to begin processing bottles again next week.

Based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the facility – a joint venture between Coca Cola and United Resource Recovery – was shut down in March in order to restructure the facility and re-engineer the technology involved to recycle PET bottles into food-grade pellet.

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United Resource Recovery president and chief executive Carlos Guiterrez told Plastics News: “We are restarting the plant. We feel pretty good on the results from our retooling efforts. This plant is designed to produce food-grade resin.”

Since the facility closed in March, the plant has been re-engineered for the fourth time. This has involved modifying equipment and changing processes to more efficiently recycle the bottles as well as preventing newer lightweight bottles from flying off the line.

However, a source told Plastics News that they believe the facility will still struggle. The source was quoted saying: “The technology might have been the best several years ago, but it doesn’t work as well as other technologies with the newer, lightweight bottles. Multiple plants with this technology have had serious issues.”