German sorting equipment specialist and plant manufacturer Stadler Anlagenbau (Altshausen; www.w-stadler.de) said it has, in collaboration with compatriot bottling machinery and equipment maker Krones (Neutrabling; www.krones.com), developed and built a vertically integrated plastics recycling facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

By the companies’ own account the first of its kind in North America, the plant produces high quality food-grade recycled materials for packaging.

Stadler said the Las Vegas Polymer Center will be managed by US environmental services company Republic Services (Phoenix, Arizona; www.republicservices.com) and will produce more than 500,000 t of recycled PET and polyolefins annually. 

Pete Keller, vice-president, recycling, and sustainability for Republic Services, said, “It is the first time that a single US company will manage the entire plastics recycling stream from waste collection to the production of high-quality recycled resins that can be immediately used to make sustainable packaging”.

The facility sorts PET and polyolefin waste collected by Republic Services, delivering the material in bales to two processing lines.

The PET line converts waste PET into rPET flake, which is then used to produce new bottles.

A line for mixed plastics waste sorts and processes recovered polyethylene and polypropylene to be used in the production of new bottles, canisters, and containers, Stadler said. 

Each processing line operates at a capacity of 5 t/h. “This is the largest two-line plastics recycling facility in the United States,” said Mat Everhart, CEO of Stadler America.

Krones worked as the project’s general contractor, with Stadler being responsible for mechanical sorting on the PET and polyolefin lines, Stadler said.

Republic Services said it plans to build three additional polymer recycling centres to bridge the gap between supply and demand for recycled materials.