Food packaging thermoformer PWP Industries plans to open an 80,000-square-foot plastics recycling facility in Davisville, W.Va., in the second quarter of 2009. The site is less than 10 miles from a PWP food packaging production site in Mineral Wells, W.Va.
An unidentified supplier is providing the recycling equipment and technology and training PWP employees.
“Recycling PET bottles will allow PWP to increase its product range containing post-consumer resin, save energy, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and keep plastic materials out of landfills,” Ira Maroofian, president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
Coca-Cola Recycling LLC of Atlanta will supply most of the recycled PET flake that PWP will use as Food and Drug Administration-compliant resin for food packaging. Coca-Cola Recycling is a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the largest bottler of Coke products.
In phase one of the project, PWP expects to have annual recycling capacity for 40 million pounds of flake and, in the process, to cut 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 398 million kilowatt-hours of energy.
PWP claims that post-consumer PET reprocessing uses about two-thirds less energy than virgin PET production.
Establishing an in-house recycling facility is part of a companywide initiative called Earth's Pack through which Vernon-based PWP already introduced biodegradable and compostable AgroResin fiber packaging made from agricultural waste.
PWP thermoforms PET and polypropylene food packaging at plants in Vernon, Mineral Wells and Abilene, Texas. Products include bakery, deli and produce containers and trays and microwaveable packaging.
For energy conservation, both the Davisville plant and an addition at Abilene have incorporated building designs for maximum natural lighting, as well as energy-efficient lighting with occupancy sensors.