rPlanet Earth shutdown – a wake-up call for domestic recycling policy, APR states
The recent shutdown of Vernon-based PET recycler rPlanet Earth should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers in California and across the country, according to a recent statement from the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR). The organization notes that rPlanet Earth represented around 4% of the nation’s rPET capacity, and that its vertically integrated operations supplied key product streams – including thermoform trays and PET bottle material – that are now under pressure.
APR points out that, like many U.S. recyclers, rPlanet Earth faced weak demand for its products while competing with a surge of low-cost imported material and cheap, oversupplied virgin plastic. According to the association, these market dynamics are driven by two factors: brands scaling back recycled content commitments in favor of virgin plastic, and brands sourcing imported rPET to meet U.S. recycled content requirements rather than purchasing from domestic recyclers. The association warns that this is pushing U.S. recyclers out of the market at a time when the country urgently needs more – not less – domestic capacity to support a circular economy.
“The sad truth is that this closure underscores that plastics recycling is a tough business, and until recycling plastics is equal to or more profitable than making new plastic, the U.S. will not make any significant progress in reducing plastic pollution,” the APR statement reads.
The association stresses that this is not an isolated case. Europe has already seen multiple plant closures under similar conditions, and APR cautions that the United States could face the same outcome if current policy trends continue. Without swift policy action, the group argues, the U.S. recycling industry risks being undermined by imports, threatening jobs, investment, and the infrastructure needed to return plastics into new products.
APR calls on policymakers to take decisive measures, including creating incentives for brands to use domestically sourced recycled content and requiring country-of-origin labeling. Only with such measures in place, the association contends, can U.S. recycling capacity be preserved, expanded, and positioned to contribute meaningfully to reducing plastic pollution and limiting the production of virgin plastic.
The Vernon, California, site covered 300,000 square feet and included SQF-certified, food-grade packaging manufacturing as well as the company’s corporate headquarters. Conceived as the first fully integrated recycling and packaging operation of its kind, it was intended to close the loop for domestic recycling programs and streamline processing.