On Thursday, Cincinnati, Ohio-based Rumpke Waste & Recycling announced it would join Kingsport, Tenn.-based molecular recycling pioneer Eastman to expand hard-to-recycle colored PET packaging waste.
The partnership will help address the global plastic waste crisis, the companies said. All of the material will be used as feedstock to Eastman’s molecular recycling process, which will turn the waste stream into virgin quality polyesters to be used in a variety of packaging applications while expanding the circular economy for polyesters.
“The world is currently grappling with a significant problem, with a large portion of plastic waste either not being collected for recycling, or is considered non-recyclable by traditional methods,” Jeff Snyder, director of recycling at Rumpke, said. “This partnership creates a new market for hard-to-recycle colored and opaque waste that is not currently recycled today.”
Currently, colored and opaque PET is used across consumer applications, but many of these applications have been unable to transition to fully circular packaging. Rumpke’s investment into innovation processing and Eastman’s molecular recycling technology will enable circularity, the companies said.
“Rumpke and Eastman are both committed to innovative approaches to reducing plastic waste through collaboration,” Brad Lich, Eastman executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said. “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.”
The announcement comes as Eastman prepared the start-up of the world’s largest material-to-material molecular recycling facility at its Kingsport location, which is set to begin shipping its first products in the coming weeks.