HPC Industries and Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Markets group have formed a joint venture to produce recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) under the name Circularix. The venture’s plans include building and operating five recycling facilities across the U.S. with a total annual production capacity of more than 275 million pounds of rPET resin. The first facility, located in Hatfield, PA, is expected to be operational by Dec. 2022. Leon Farahnik will be chairman and CEO of Circularix and Alex Delnik, former CEO and founder of Verdeco Recycling, will serve as president and COO. Macquarie is assisting Circularix with project debt, equipment finance, FX hedging and other risk management solutions to support its future growth.

“Consumer brands are struggling to meet their sustainability goals as current rPET supply is unable to scale as needed,” Farahnik said. “Our move into rPET production is the beginning of a major and much-needed capacity expansion in the United States, and we are excited to continue playing an important role in the plastics recycling industry by uniting our experience with Macquarie’s.”

Macquarie is a provider of risk management, market access and capital and financing solutions to the petrochemicals industry and has played a leading role in environmental product markets, sustainable infrastructure and the waste sector around the world for more than 15 years. Macquarie formed its sustainable waste solutions team in 2020 to provide finance and growth capital solutions to clients in the waste sector, with a focus on helping facilitate the transition to a circular economy.

“We are delighted to support our clients in delivering the practical infrastructure needed to expand production capacity for post-consumer recycled materials,” Ben Glover, executive director in specialized and asset finance division for Macquarie, said. “Ventures such as Circularix are a key part of the supply chain that will drive more post-consumer material back into higher value recycled packaging markets.”