Eastman Will Recycle Colored and Opaque PET Supplied by Rumpke

Rumpke, which provides waste management services in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, will supply colored and opaque PET products to Eastman. These products will be processed by Eastman using its molecular recycling technology.

Eastman is implementing processes to depolymerize PET using glycolysis and methanolysis. The resulting monomer can be used to make virgin-quality polyesters that can in turn be feedstock for a wide variety of packaging applications.

“This partnership creates a new market for colored and opaque waste that is not currently recycled today,” says Jeff Snyder, Rumpke director of recycling. 

Colored and opaque PET is used across a range of consumer applications, including personal care and cosmetic packaging, detergent and soap packaging, and various dairy and food packaging. Historically, many of these applications have been unable to transition to fully circular packaging, in which packaging is recycled to produce the same type and format of packaging, because postconsumer waste is generally not sorted by color. Due to this limitation, mixed color PET recyclate sells for significantly less than clear PET, which can be used in a wide range of applications and colors. 

“Rumpke and Eastman are both committed to innovative approaches to reducing plastic waste through collaboration,” says Brad Lich, Eastman executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “This partnership reinforces the complementary nature of molecular and mechanical recycling to keep more raw materials in the circular economy enabling brands to meet their recycled content goals.”

This announcement comes as Eastman is nearing the startup of the world's largest material-to-material molecular recycling facility at its Kingsport, Tennessee, site. Set to begin shipping its first products in the first quarter of 2024, the Kingsport plant is expected to recycle 110,000 metric tons of plastic waste annually.