Recycler Alandro Plastic Resources LLC is doubling compounding capacity of its South Texas recycling facility and beefing up research and development capabilities.
The Brownsville company is adding a second production-scale twin-screw extruder in April as it sees both increased demand for recycled content and a shortage of virgin materials boosting its markets, said Jorge Alvarez, managing member of the firm.
The new 75-millimeter extrusion line will increase the company's recycled compounding and pelletizing capacity to at least 600,000 pounds a month, and the firm plans to add a second shift to increase production, he said.
"The U.S. demand, and quite frankly the global market, continues to be affected by the lack of supplies and high prices due to disruptions in production," he said in an email. "These disruptions are associated with COVID … cutbacks in production and other similar factors."
The company, which collects and recycles post-industrial plastics from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, started pelletizing and compounding two years ago and has seen business grow steadily, he said.