DAK Americas LLC is acquiring a large PET recycler in eastern Indiana.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based PET resin maker has "an asset purchase agreement" with Perpetual Recycling Solutions LLC, which operates a 100-million-pound per year recycling facility in Richmond, Ind.
Perpetual processes post-consumer bottles and food containers into recycled PET flake. DAK is a unit of Alpek SAV de CV of San Pedro Garza García, near Monterrey, Mexico.
Alpek said the Richmond facility will complement its existing food-grade PET recycling operations in Argentina as well as a fiber-grade PET recycling joint venture in Fayetteville, N.C.,
“We already are one of the largest recyclers in North America with having a facility in Fayetteville,” DAK Americas spokesman Ricky Lane said. “We look forward to expanding that recycling expertise to that (Indiana) facility. We look forward to using this facility to meet the growing demands for our customers and the need for incorporation of rPET material into their products.”
The North Carolina recycling site is a joint venture with Shaw Industries Group Inc., the world's largest carpet maker. All output from that location goes into making new carpet fiber used by Shaw.
The Perpetual acquisition is expected to close during the first quarter, and terms were not disclosed.
Alpek is an integrated producer of PET and PTA in North America and is "the largest producer of expandable polystyrene" in the Americas, the company said.
The chemical company also operates one of the largest polypropylene facilities in North America as part of its network of 26 plants in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Starting operations in 2012, this is the second time the Richmond PET recycler is being sold.
Sorema Plastics Recycling Systems and members of management purchased the facility in 2015. Sorema, a division of Previero of Italy, has built hundreds of recycling systems around the world, including equipment at Perpetual.
News of the latest deal comes just a few weeks local economic development officials indicated Perpetual planned to invest $5.2 million for new equipment, building improvements and employee training. The firm received a $25,000 Economic Development Income Tax Grant from the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County, Ind., as part of that project.
Perpetual opened in 2012 in the former General Aluminum facility. Current employment is 76, the economic development agency said.
End markets for Perpetual's rPET include food and beverage packaging and textiles.
The recycled content side of the PET business continues to expand as brand owners seek to incorporate more of that content into their products.
“The market's growing and as a major PET resin supplier, we are very interested in serving all of the customer and market needs. Those needs continue to grow with regard to offering a full service of sustainable product offerings,” Lane said.
With recovery operations in both the United States and Argentina, he said recycling is a “core competency that we have and we are growing.”
