Arca Continental to Invest in PET Recycling Infrastructure

Arca Continental, one of the biggest bottlers of Coca-Cola around the world, announced a joint investment of US$9 million to upgrade its recycling collection and recycling infrastructure. Along with Coca-Cola and its recycling-focused subsidiary PetStar, the company aims to create a sustainable circular business model. 

According to the companies, the investment was used to double the capacity of the processing plant located in San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. Following this, the partners will increase the number of collection associates and open of new collection centers, with the aim of recovering 9,000t/y of PET bottle materials and meeting the demand of more than 400 PET collection enterprises. Last year, the San Pedro Tlaquepaque plant received more than 5,000 tons of PET coming from 21 municipalities, as well as from the states of Nayarit and Colima. 

Jaime Cámara, Director, PetStar said that the investment represents a “shared commitment” with Arca Continental to double the PET packaging offered to the market and to keep this material in the recycling chain. 

The company has invested over US$150 million in the PetStar processing plant, nine collection centers, of which eight are currently operating and one is to start operating in Tijuana, and other required infrastructure. Currently, Arca Continental can process over 90,000t/y of PET, the equivalent of filling the Aztec Stadium three times. During the next 6 years, the company expects to process 17,000t/y, although it will require more investment to make this happen. 

“We are talking about investing another US$150 million to double our capacity… this requires an additional investment to be able to recycle 100 percent of the bottles that we offer to the market and to add 50 percent of recycled resin into all bottles we produced,” said Jesús Lucatero, Director of Public Affairs, Arca Continental in a Forbes interview regarding Coca-Cola and Arca’s A World Without Waste initiative. 

PetStar owns the largest PET recycling plant in the world in the State of Mexico and has a portfolio of over 1,500 recycling collection associates. Arca Continental operates in 14 states, where it collects and processes 7 out of 10 bottles offered to the Mexican market.