Alpek acquires CarbonLite’s rPET facility
Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V. announced that it has acquired CarbonLite Recycling LLC’s state-of-the-art PET recycling and pelletisation facility in Reading, Pennsylvania in the United States. The site was acquired for U.S. $96 million on a debt-free basis and is subject to customary conditions precedent.
Alpek was strongly interested in CarbonLite’s Reading site as it is outfitted entirely with brand-new equipment, including a state-of-the-art optical sorting system, wash line, and solid state polymeriser (“SSP”), which enables production of food-grade pellet, needed in bottle-to-bottle recycling. The site has a bottle-to-flake and flake-to-pellet input capacity of 115,000 tons and 49,000 tons, respectively, making it the largest integrated rPET facility in the Americas. The site is expected to start operations during 3Q21.
This acquisition is fully aligned with the Fostering a Circular Economy pillar of the Company’s long-term strategic growth plan. It increases Alpek’s installed rPET capacity to 394,000 tons, reaffirms its position as the largest PET recycler in the Americas, and achieves the company’s target of supplying selected customers with 25% rPET content before 2025.
