NGOs express concern regarding PureCycle sorting facility

Fifty nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from across the United States have sent a letter to PureCycle Technologies Inc. CEO Dustin Olson, along with CEOs of other PureCycle partners, requesting that PureCycle abandon its plans for a plastic sorting facility in Winter Garden, Florida.

PureCycle Technologies, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, announced plans last fall to open a plastic recycling prep facility in Winter Garden that will sort and process polypropylene (PP) to be turned into the company’s "ultrapure" recycled PP resin at its sites in Ironton, Ohio, and Augusta, Georgia.

According to the letter, which was sent Sept. 6, co-signers are concerned about the “harms and potential risks” the facility might have on its surrounding community.

“A plastic trash sorting facility would significantly increase truck traffic for deliveries and pickup of plastic waste material,” the letter states. “The plastic trash trucks are likely to travel on the same roads as school buses delivering children to Maxey Elementary School, which is just two minutes away. The damage done to city roads by truck traffic would be an additional cost to city taxpayers, a burden on commuters and harmful for the surrounding homeowners. The community could face additional economic harm through decreased property values. The possibility of a truck producing litter, bad odor and harmful emissions in a residential area is high.

“There are also safety concerns for the residents of the surrounding area. Plastic waste is flammable, and storage of plastic waste creates a potential fire hazard. Fires at plastic sorting and recycling operations are a regular occurrence with potentially toxic impacts to neighbors. … PureCycle’s original plan to include washing and flaking of plastic waste could inflict additional harm on the local, regional and state environment. Washing operations require a significant amount of freshwater, which is in limited supply the world over.”

Co-signers of the letter also have expressed environmental justice concerns about PureCycle’s Winter Garden facility. The letter continues to state that the area surrounding PureCycle’s facility is “historically black” and “does not deserve further exploitation.”

“PureCycle must reconsider the location of the facility if PureCycle is truly committed to social and environmental responsibility,” the letter concludes.

A PureCycle spokesperson tells Recycling Today that it has been working closely with government officials in Winter Garden and Orange County, Florida, to address questions and concerns.

“Until very recently, officials seemed supportive of the facility being located at the present site, which sits just outside of Winter Garden’s city limits,” a PureCycle spokesperson tells Recycling Today. “This central Florida site is the ideal setting to bring 21st century tech jobs to the area. We expect to create 30 to 40 well-paid, skilled jobs and hire East Winter Garden residents to fill them. We hoped local officials would want to bring jobs back to the city and provide opportunities to a neighborhood that has long been underserved.”

The spokesperson adds that the facility is located in “an industrial zoned area and will exclusively serve as a sorting facility for plastics. It is not a material recovery facility. As such, it will not serve as a drop-off area for curbside waste.” PureCycle says it plans to prep material at the central Florida facility to later be processed and purified at one of its locations in Ohio or Georgia.

The company says it plans to continue to invest in the local community and work closely with city and county officials in the coming months.