Rigid plastic producers Amcor Rigid Plastics will soon operate an on-site production facility within Method’s manufacturing facility in Chicago to produce 100% PCR polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.
Method produces eco-friendly household, fabric and personal care products and will open the manufacturing facility in the Pullman Park neighbourhood in south Chicago.
The new manufacturing plant endeavours to be the first Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum-certified facility in the consumer packaged goods industry and will open in early 2015.
The 24/7 facility will produce PET bottles primarily for household cleaners and hand wash.
The companies are already working together where Amcor supplies a range of containers for hand wash, dish soap, laundry detergent, and household cleaning products.
Employing about 30 people, the new facility will feature a 230 feet wind turbine and solar panel installations that help in reducing environmental impact. It will also incorporate natural lighting and renew native land across 22 acres.
A functional roof with urban agriculture is also planned to help the local community.
The company said that in-house production of PCR containers would help them to reduce freight cost and carbon emissions along with packaging costs and improve joint operational efficiencies.
Amcor also said that the use of 100% PCR resin helps in reducing the cradle-to-gate energy consumption of the resin compared to virgin by 52% and the package's carbon footprint by 57%. Close to 600 truckloads of bottles can be kept off the road with the on-site production of PCR bottles which result in the elimination of over 200 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
