Plastics recycler CarbonLite and its subsidiary PinnPack Packaging have filed for chapter 11 protection, Plastics in Packaging reported. Production at all three of U.S.-based CarbonLite’s facilities — in California, Texas and Pennsylvania — and its Californian thermoforming business PinnPack Packaging, will continue as usual without interruption, as will payment of all employees. Layoffs are not under consideration. There will be no stoppage of supply to CarbonLite’s customers during the reorganisation period. Pressures directly related to the coronavirus pandemic contributed to CarbonLite’s decision to reorganize. This included temporary production slow-downs caused by employee illness, the low price of virgin plastics relative to recycled PET, and a nine-month delay in the opening of the company’s new Pennsylvania facility caused by travel restrictions that held up equipment commissioning by European manufacturers. CarbonLite has also incurred heavy capital expenditures for the recent expansion of its Dallas facility and construction of its 270,000 square foot plant in Reading, Pa., which launched limited production in October 2020. This plant is outfitted with advanced robotic systems and is the largest standalone bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in the world. Its opening is planned for this spring.
