A bottle recycling facility that closed two years ago is now up and running at capacity, 24-7, and has increased its output by over 60 percent since March 2013.PQ Recycling (PQR), a branch of North Carolina-based PolyQuest, North America’s largest distributor of PET resins and manufacturer of recycled PET resins, bought the former Pure Tech Recycling facility in Farmingdale, New York, in 2013. It takes the millions of plastic bottles that come in the door and sorts, washes, and processes them into flake, which is then turned into products such as floor mats for cars, strapping or back into plastic bottles.
The plant’s original capacity was about 18 million pounds annually. Today’s capacity is running at 3 million pounds per month, with a projected output of 36 million pounds per year of clean flake, PQR says.
New equipment, technology upgrades, improved quality control measures and upgraded safety procedures coupled with LNO approvals already in place have helped allow the facility to serve the highest value rPET end markets, the company says.
Customers include Nestlé Waters North America, a longtime supplier to PQR in Farmingdale. Earlier this month one of Nestlé’s bottled water brands, resource Natural Spring Water, launched new bottles made with 100 percent rPET, excluding the cap and the label.
