Ontario bottler to build PET recycling plant

An Ontario bottled water producer is building its own recycling plant to produce a 100 per cent recycled PET drink bottle.

Ice Rivers Springs, located in Feversham, claims the plant will be the first water bottler in North America to make 100 per cent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET), a type of plastic typically used for food and non-food products.

The proposed factory in Shelburne, Ont., will eventually manufacture RPET for other Canadian producers.

“We believe this to be a great step in our sustainability program and provides our consumers with an environmentally friendly option in their bottled water”, said company president Jamie Gott. “Our goal is to eliminate our dependency upon foreign virgin PET resin by self-manufacturing RPET from baled post consumer plastic purchased from municipal recycling centres. Recycled food grade PET can produce over 20 successful generations of water bottles.”

The location in Shelburne is critical to the reduction in carbon footprint, Gott continued, as it is located on the shipping lane from the Ice River Springs location in Feversham and the raw materials can be back-hauled on trucks that would normally come back empty.

The facility is expected to be up and running by July 2010, and Gott said the company plans to hire up to 60 workers.