CarbonLITE Starts Construction of New Berks County PET Recycling Plant

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): California-based plastics recycler CarbonLITE Holdings, LLC. will invest nearly $80 million in new PET recycling plant. The construction works have already begun for the plant located in Muhlenberg Township, Pa., near Reading, around 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia in Berks County. The preliminary construction work is already underway and the plant is expected to open early next year and achieve full operations by end of Q1.

According to company press release, the proposed Berks PET recycling facility will be the company’s largest. It must be noted that CarbonLITE has operations in Riverside, California and Dallas, Texas as well. The new plant will have a yearly processing capacity of around 2-2.5 billion plastic bottles collected from municipal curbside systems and deposit centers, thereby taking CarbonLITE’s total processing capacity to more than 6 billion bottles per year. The 270,000 square-foot facility is expected to create more than 100 jobs in the region.

The company had earlier chosen an undisclosed property in Allentown, Pa., as the location for its new East Coast facility. However, it was later decided to change its location after considering several factors including the facility’s heavy utility requirements, easy access to major transportation facilities and the County’s talented labor pool.

CarbonLITE declared its commitment to reduce carbon footprints from the facility through use of latest green technology.

Meantime, The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance offered full assistance to the company throughout the development, construction and startup phases.