Plastics Recycler Expanding Alabama Operations

Custom Polymers PET LLC recently broke ground on an expansion project at its Athens, Ala., facility. The expansion project, which began May 1, is expected to be complete by the beginning of next year. When complete, the facility will add another 70 million pounds of PET flake a year to its production, according to Byron Geiger, president of Custom Polymers PET. A majority of the PET that will be added will come from post-consume sources.

The Athens location will add a fourth building to its location when the expansion is complete. The facility, which has been in operation in Athens under the Custom Polymers PET name for about 2-1/2 years, sorts, grinds, washing and pelletizes both post-consumer and post-industrial PET plastics. At the present time the company is able to produce around 50 million pounds of clean washed flake a year and 30 million pounds of pelletized PET a year.

To meet the upcoming demand, Geiger notes that the company will likely need to bring in an additional 100 million pounds of PET plastics a year to the plant.

Geiger notes that a challenge will be obtaining enough supply to meet the increased capacity. Although there have been a number of new recycled PET operations recently opened or expanded in the Southeast, as well as the significant demand for the material offshore, Geiger says that the Athens location is further west than many of the new operations, which gives the company an advantage, especially with favorable transportation rates.