Recently filed for formal certificate of completion

PureCycle has announced that it expects to begin production at its Ironton facility in the second quarter of this year after the company finished the mechanical completion of its first polypropylene purification plant.

Once fully operational, the plant is expected to produce 107 million pounds of Ultra-Pure Recycled resin annually, making high-quality recycled PP plastic more accessible at scale. PureCycle uses an innovative technology to remove nearly all contaminants, colors and odors from polypropylene plastic waste.

The company has submitted documentation to Leidos Engineering, LLC, the site’s independent construction monitor, for formal certification of completion.

With that, the Ironton facility will now begin operational pre-startup, safety review processes.

“2023 will continue to be an exciting year for PureCycle as we kick off operations at our flagship facility in Ironton. Now that construction is complete, we can begin our ramp-up plan and start producing UPR pellets,” said Dustin Olson, PureCycle’s CEO. “This is a transformative moment for PureCycle, for all of those that have supported us and invested in our Company, and for our goal of creating an ‘infinitely sustainable planet.’ We can’t wait to bring our sustainable, high-quality, no-compromise UPR resin to our customers and start to create a truly circular economy for plastics.”  

PureCycle licenses the patented process for making high-quality recycled resin from The Procter & Gamble Company, whose scientists developed this technology.

“We are very proud to see this technology commercialized. This is an important step toward making recycled materials more readily integrated into products and packaging and consistent with P&G’s interest in enabling more sustainable solutions for our industry,” said Victor Aguilar, chief research, development and innovation officer at The Procter & Gamble Company. 

He thanked PureCycle  for driving greater scale from the company’s invention, and also thanked the joint team of scientists who dedicated their time and expertise to bring this important project to fruition.

In addition to the sustainability benefits, PureCycle’s first purification plant will provide the Ironton community with an influx of new jobs.

Bill Dingus, executive director at the Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation added, “We are so excited to bring this cutting-edge company and technology to Southern Ohio. PureCycle is a welcome member to our community, and we are thrilled to watch their company change the world. This facility will bring approximately 80-100 high-wage jobs to our region and put Ironton, at the center of the global recycling transformation.”

PureCycle prepared the final closure documentation consistent with the requirements set forth by Leidos and believes the information to be complete and sufficient. The Leidos certification is required to achieve key milestones in connection with PureCycle’s Ironton financings.

PureCycle started up its feedstock evaluation unit in Haverhill, at the old Dow Chemical site, in partnership with Proctor and Gamble in 2015 announced in 2017 that it was building the Ironton facility in July 2017.

Time magazine called PureCycle’s recycling process one of the best inventions of 2019. According to the magazine, PureCycle has already presold their products for the next two decades. 

PureCycle in known for its process of turning used polypropylene, one of the most commonly used plastics, into a resin that is pure enough it can be used in packaging for food and only uses a fraction of energy that it takes to make virgin resin.

Currently, only approximately 1 percent of the 170 billion pounds of polypropylene consumed last year was recycled as compared to almost 20 percent for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), according to the American Chemistry Council.