Balcones Recycling receives loan from American Beverage, Closed Loop Partners

American Beverage, in partnership with Closed Loop Partners, has announced a $3 million loan to support Balcones Recycling’s San Antonio material recovery facility (MRF).

Balcones is one of the largest independent privately held recycling companies in the United States. The loan, part of a multimillion-dollar investment across several partners, supports the development of the new 200,000-square-foot MRF, which opened earlier this year.

The new facility serves nearly 1.5 million San Antonio residents, multifamily buildings and commercial customers by better sorting and cleaning recyclables, allowing more materials to be processed and remade rather than put in a landfill, Balcones says. 

RELATED: Balcones Resources breaks ground in San Antonio  

The new facility is equipped with a 50 tons-per-hour sorting system provided by the California-based CP Group. A CP Primary Auger screen will scalp 6-inch-minus material, and two patented old corrugated containers (OCC) Auger Screens will scalp 8-inch-minus material to produce a clean OCC end product.

The facility also includes five MSS FiberMax optical sorters, three MSS PlasticMax optical sorters and two MSS AI (artificial intelligence) units will be used to quality control containers, specifically PET and aluminum. 

RELATED: Balcones starts up newest Texas MRF 

"This state-of-the-art facility is a critical step toward improving San Antonio’s recycling infrastructure,” Texas Beverage Association Executive Director Carol McGarah says. “We are proud to be a part of this project and build on Every Bottle Back’s work in Texas to ensure recyclables, like our bottles and cans, are remade into new materials as intended.” 

The $3 million loan financed the installation of new equipment to improve the recovery and processing of recyclables and add recycling capacity. Using new sorting technology, the facility aims to significantly improve the recycling rate for a range of materials, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles, which will be returned to supply chains and can be used for new bottles. 

“Closed Loop Partners is proud to be a longstanding partner of the American Beverage Association, working collaboratively to strengthen recycling infrastructure and advance a circular economy for materials in the U.S,” Closed Loop Partners Head of Infrastructure Group and Managing Director Jennifer Louie says. “We are excited to support the development of Balcones’ facility in San Antonio alongside a diverse group of stakeholders and financing partners.”

According to the company, the project is expected to yield about 1 million tons of recyclables over the next decade. This includes nearly 60,000 tons of PET plastic and more than 20,000 tons of aluminum, both of which are used to make recyclable bottles and cans.

This investment is part of 65 initial projects that the leading beverage industry companies, The Coca-Cola Co., Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo, and their sustainability partners have committed to fund through Every Bottle Back. Currently, the beverage industry has committed $39.1 million in funding nationwide. These investments are estimated to yield nearly 915 million new pounds of recycled PET and more than 87 million more pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade.