Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) manufacturer Phoenix Technologies International is expanding its facility at Bowling Green in the US state of Ohio to add a new wash line.
The new line will enable the firm to expand into upstream production by self-manufacturing clean flake. Clean flake is used as feed material to create rPET.
The $18m wash line will be operational by the end of this year, and create 30 new jobs.
The 66,000ft2 facility will be located in proximity to Phoenix's existing 90,000ft2 manufacturing plant.
Having a projected capacity of 50 million pounds of clean flake a year, the wash line will process bales and dirty flake sourced from various suppliers.
Currently, Pheonix is sourcing clean flake either through direct purchases, or through a third party wash line.
The company has been sourcing clean flake through baled bottles reclaimed from curbside collection, and tolled through a third-party wash operation.
Phoenix president Bob Deardurff said: "Combining the total supply chain, from bale to final pellet, and its processes, will allow us to optimize both the wash and flake processing components in ways that we could not do when clean flake was coming from external sources.
"The new wash line also will enable Phoenix to fine-tune critical manufacturing variables so that we can better deliver processing and performance attributes of value to our customers."
The company produces recycled PET for beverages, food, and personal care products packaging.
Phoenix expects the new facility to enable it to manage environmental footprint better by regulating the use of water and fuel.
Image: The new wash line will have a capacity of 50 million pounds of clean flake a year. Photo: courtesy of Phoenix Technologies.
