Cradle-to-gate product carbon footprint (PCF) study finds rPET produced at company’s Las Vegas Polymer Center provides an integrated, decarbonized customer supply chain
Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG), a leader in the environmental services industry, is producing recycled plastic flake from its Las Vegas Polymer Center for use in sustainable packaging that has a significantly lower carbon footprint (CO2e) than representative recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) or virgin PET in the U.S. market. A recently completed product carbon footprint (PCF) study confirms its potential to help customers decarbonize supply chains and reduce Scope 3 emissions.
On average, the global warming potential of Republic Services’ bottle-grade, clear rPET flake produced at the Las Vegas Polymer Center is 54% lower than the rPET flake alternatives evaluated, and 82% lower than virgin PET. These findings are included in an independent cradle-to-gate PCF study of rPET flake produced at the company’s Las Vegas Polymer Center during the first seven months of 2024, which included comparisons to representative rPET and virgin PET produced in the U.S. as well as imported to the U.S. from Asia.1
“We developed our Polymer Centers to enable bottle-to-bottle circularity and help meet increasing demand for high-quality recycled plastics,” said Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability. “The rPET flake we produce is not only helping customers meet goals and requirements for recycled content in their packaging, but also helping reduce their environmental impact.”
Republic Services makes an average of 5 million recycling and waste pickups daily, and the company operates 75 recycling facilities across North America. Recycled plastics from these facilities are delivered to a Polymer Center for secondary processing, and PET is shredded and washed to produce a bottle-grade, clear rPET flake ready to be remanufactured into new beverage bottles.
The lower carbon footprint of Republic Services’ rPET is primarily due to more effective energy use at the Las Vegas Polymer Center: The facility uses a patented equipment line that is more efficient, using less electricity and thermal energy per kilogram of flake than other mechanical recycling processes; processing is shared with other key materials recovered; and the regional utility grid has a lower carbon footprint than either the average U.S. grid or the Asian market’s grid mix considered in the PCF study.
The rPET produced by Republic Services’ Las Vegas Polymer Center has additional environmental benefits:
- Bottle-Grade Product: The PCF study noted that Republic Services’ rPET flake is bottle-grade, unlike most rPET produced from mechanical recycling, enabling bottle-to-bottle circularity.
- Integrated Supply Chain: Republic Services manages post-consumer recycled material from the curbside to flake production, in contrast to imported rPET.
- Enhanced Circularity: The Polymer Center process also recovers and recycles non-PET materials from the stream that would otherwise be disposed of through landfill or incineration, further contributing to a circular economy.
Republic Services operates Polymer Centers in Las Vegas and Indianapolis, with a third facility under construction in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Each center will have the capacity to produce approximately 120 million pounds of bottle-grade recycled plastics annually.
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