Beverage giants and an investment firm are putting millions of dollars behind PET reclaimer Evergreen.
Evergreen (formerly Evergreen Plastics) is in the midst of a $22 million expansion at its Clyde, Ohio PET recycling facility. The company is owned by The Sterling Group, an investment firm that also owns Greenbridge, a plastic strapping producer that used to be called Polychem Corporation. Evergreen supplies recycled PET for use by Greenbridge.
On Aug. 12, the American Beverage Association (ABA), Ohio Beverage Association and investment firm Closed Loop Partners announced their combined $5 million investment. Half of the money comes from the Every Bottle Back initiative, which is a collaboration between Closed Loop Partners and the ABA, and the other half is from Closed Loop Partners’ Infrastructure Fund.
The Every Bottle Back initiative is funded by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo, all of which are ABA members.
“This investment helps Evergreen evolve its business model, expanding its services to process recycled PET plastic into food-grade recycled rPET pellets used to manufacture new bottles, while creating a strong local market for recycled plastics,” the press release states.
The expansion is expected to double the Clyde plant’s food-grade RPET production capacity.
Evergreen’s parent company also now owns a PET recycling plant in Riverside, Calif. The Sterling Group bought the plant for nearly $44 million after the former owner, CarbonLite Industries, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
After the purchase, The Sterling Group carved out Evergreen, which was a recycling division of Greenbridge, and merged it with the Riverside assets to form a single PET recycling company under the Evergreen name.
A version of this story appeared in Plastics Recycling Update on August 18.
