Another rPET plant is closing in the United States with the setback being blamed on cheaper virgin plastic, imports of recycled resin and little support for the domestic plastics recycling industry.
Alpek has filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor saying its rPET facility in Reading, Pennsylvania will close on 15 March and 100 employees will be affected.
Largest producer
The plant was previously operated by CarbonLite which filed for bankruptcy in 2021. At the time, Reuters reported that DAK Americas, a unit of the Mexican chemical manufacturer, paid US$ 98.1 million (EUR 82.8 million) for the Pennsylvania facility.
The company website said the group’s overall installed rPET capacity was being boosted to more than 300 000 tonnes, ‘reaffirming its position as largest PET recycler in the Americas’.
In June 2025, Alpek announced it was closing a plant in North Carolina which produced virgin and rPET.
Several factors
Steve Alexander, ceo of the Association of Plastic Recyclers, is reported to have said the latest closure resulted from several factors including global overproduction of virgin plastic and imports of inexpensive recycled resin.
He also blamed a lack of support for the domestic plastics recycling industry, notably from brands that had backed away from commitments to included recycled content in their products.
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