The expansions will bring the company’s annual capacity to 165 million pounds of RPET resin. | Photo courtesy of Circularix.
RPET producer Circularix has completed commercial startup of its second food-grade pelletizing facility, located in Ocala, Florida, and announced it will expand capacity at its flagship site in Hatfield, Pennsylvania.
Earlier this year, the company said the Florida location would “mirror” the existing Pennsylvania facility, producing up to 55 million pounds of food-grade post-consumer RPET pellets each year. And the Pennsylvania expansion will double that site’s capacity, bringing total annual RPET resin capacity to 165 million pounds per year.
CEO and founder Leon Farahnik told Plastics Recycling Update via email, “Ocala proved to be an excellent choice, as Florida offers a very favorable business environment. We also saw it as an underserved region from a processing standpoint, creating a strategic opportunity.”
As for future locations planned for Arizona, Texas and the Pacific Northwest, “Our plant buildout timeline is driven by demand,” Farahnik said. “We are not pursuing a ‘build it and they will come’ model. Like all recyclers, we require consistent, long-term offtake commitments before deploying the capital and resources needed to bring additional volume online.”
Circularix has supply agreements with Republic Services’ new polymer centers, the most recent of which was announced for Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles from the flagship Circularix site. Republic Services has not yet announced the city or state for the last of its four planned polymer centers, but has said it will be in the Southeast.
“We built and commissioned this plant in record time,” Farahnik said in a press release. “From landing equipment in mid-March to reaching full production by August 1, this milestone is a testament to the dedication and expertise of our team. Their commitment made it possible to bring our second facility online at unprecedented speed.”
Farahnik was formerly CEO of CarbonLite, which was the largest US PET reclaimer before it filed for bankruptcy in early 2021. Several RPET stakeholders including Indorama Ventures and Alpek quickly bought the three CarbonLite facilities in Riverside, California; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Dallas, Texas.
Global financial services firm Macquarie Group is providing both equity and debt financing for Circularix through its Commodities and Global Markets Group, as well as foreign exchange hedging and other risk management services.
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