Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22, is a great time to focus on how Republic Services is advancing plastics circularity. Through our Polymer Centers, we’re helping ensure a plastic bottle or jug is turned back into a new bottle or jug. This Q&A with Andrew Lopez, General Manager of Republic’s Polymer Center in Las Vegas, focuses on our vision to partner with customers to create a more sustainable world on Earth Day and every day!
Let’s start with the basics, what happens to my plastic water bottle from the time it’s picked up from my curbside bin until it leaves the Polymer Center? Once it’s picked up, that water bottle, most likely made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate), along with everything else in your curbside bin, heads to a recycling center (hopefully one of ours!). There, it’s sorted from the rest of the recyclables and grouped with other PET bottles and containers. These are then compressed into bales and shipped to Polymer Center. At the Polymer Center, the bottles go through a detailed process of sorting, grinding, and washing. The bottle is first separated from any remaining contaminants, then ground into small flakes, and thoroughly washed clean. The result? Clean, high-quality rPET flake, our final product, which is sold to manufacturers who use it to create new bottles, continuing the recycling loop.
We hear a lot about a circular economy. Can you explain what this means and how the Polymer Centers are driving a circular economy for plastics? The circular economy is all about keeping materials in use for as long as possible, transforming products at the end of their life into new ones, ideally of the same kind. It’s a continuous loop that keeps valuable resources out of landfills and reduces the need for virgin materials. At Polymer Center, we’re helping drive that cycle forward by taking used plastic bottles and beginning the process of turning them into new bottles; giving plastics a second life and pushing the circular economy into action.
What were some key learnings from running the Las Vegas Polymer Center that were important in opening the Polymer Center in Indianapolis last month? The biggest takeaway? We’re always learning and getting better with every step. When designing our Indianapolis facility, we built on the successes and lessons from Las Vegas. From equipment process flow and building layout to truck traffic patterns, we took what we learned in Vegas and applied it to Indy right from the start—exactly how it should be. With each new Polymer Center, we’re not just expanding, we’re improving.
Can you give us an example of how the Polymer Centers are partnering with customers to create a more sustainable world? One great example is our collaboration with brands, such as Coca-Cola, that are committed to using recycled content in their packaging. By supplying high-quality rPET flake made from post-consumer bottles, we help these brands close the loop on their packaging, turning yesterday’s bottles into today’s new containers.
With over 20 years of experience in the industry, what excites you most about the future of plastics recycling technology? I’ve seen an incredible pace of innovation and potential to make plastics recycling smarter, cleaner, and more efficient than ever before. This means we can recover more material, improve the quality of recycled plastics, and open the door to recycling a wider variety of plastics that were previously considered non-recyclable. I’m also excited about the growing collaboration across the value chain. Brands, recyclers, and consumers are all working together to close the loop.