Eastman, Rumpke ink feedstock deal for chemical recycling site

Eastman Chemical Co. has signed a plastic waste feedstock agreement with U.S.-based recycler Rumpke Waste & Recycling for its Kingsport, Tenn., depolymerization plant. The facility is nearing start-up and is set to begin shipping its first products in the coming weeks, Eastman said in a statement.

As part of the deal, Rumpke will collect and sort hard-to-recycle and colored PET packaging waste starting later this year. It will provide all of that waste stream to Eastman’s depolymerization recycling process.

The Kingsport plant will be Eastman’s first operational depolymerization plant, with a processing capacity of 110,000 metric tons per year. The company is also building a second plant in Normandy, France. Phase 1 is expected to be mechanically complete in 2026 and process 100,000 tonnes. The combined capacity of the project’s two phases is expected to hit 200,000 tonnes. A third plant in the plans, although its location has not yet been confirmed.

Rumpke and Eastman are both committed to innovative approaches to reducing plastic waste through collaboration," said Brad Lich, Eastman executive vice president and chief commercial officer. "This partnership reinforces the complementary nature of molecular and mechanical recycling to keep more raw materials in the circular economy enabling brands to meet their recycled content goals."

Rumpke Waste & Recycling, based near Cincinnati, is one of the largest family-owned trash and recycling firms in the nation and a regional powerhouse operating in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.