SPARTANBURG, S.C. (March 8, 3:15 p.m. ET) — The co-owner of a struggling PET recycling plant has bought a stake in fledgling recycling firm International Recycling Group LLC.
United Resource Recovery Corp. Inc. of Spartanburg, S.C., purchased “membership interests” in New York-based IRG, according to a March 5 news release. No financial details were provided. IRG, according to its website, claims that by Spring 2013 the firm “will have commissioned the world's largest plastics recycling plant at a first-of-its-kind facility in the Midwestern U.S.” No further data is provided and officials with IRG could not be reached for comment.
URRC operates a recycling plant in Spartanburg through a partnership with beverage giant Coca-Cola Co. But the plant – operating as NURRC – was closed for six months during 2011 because of operating problems. In October, URRC president and CEO Carlos Gutierrez told Plastics News that his firm and Coca-Cola “have been working … on restructuring NURRC, including the joint venture agreement.” He could not be reached for further comment.
IRG – a unit of New York investment firm GreenSteel LLC – also claims on its website that it “will be the first company in the world dedicated to processing and marketing high volumes of alternative fuel for the integrated steel industry, repurposed from plastic scrap that is generally not otherwise marketable for recycling.” The firm also claims to be buying “all types and grades of plastic.”
URRC's hybrid UnPET technology chemically cleans PET after it has been turned into flake. Most PET recyclers use a process that washes bottles before they are shredded into flake.
