Republic Services' Recycled Plastic Flake Provides 54% Lower Carbon Footprint for Sustainable Packaging
Cradle-to-gate product carbon footprint (PCF) study finds rPET produced at company's Las Vegas Polymer Center provides an integrated, decarbonized customer supply chain
PHOENIX, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG), a leader in the environmental services industry, is producing recycled plastic flake from its Las Vegas Polymer Center for use in sustainable packaging that has a significantly lower carbon footprint (CO2e) than representative recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) or virgin PET in the U.S. market. A recently completed product carbon footprint (PCF) study confirms its potential to help customers decarbonize supply chains and reduce Scope 3 emissions.
On average, the global warming potential of Republic Services' bottle-grade, clear rPET flake produced at the Las Vegas Polymer Center is 54% lower than the rPET flake alternatives evaluated, and 82% lower than virgin PET. These findings are included in an independent cradle-to-gate PCF study of rPET flake produced at the company's Las Vegas Polymer Center during the first seven months of 2024, which included comparisons to representative rPET and virgin PET produced in the U.S. as well as imported to the U.S. from Asia.1
"We developed our Polymer Centers to enable bottle-to-bottle circularity and help meet increasing demand for high-quality recycled plastics," said Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability. "The rPET flake we produce is not only helping customers meet goals and requirements for recycled content in their packaging, but also helping reduce their environmental impact."
Republic Services makes an average of 5 million recycling and waste pickups daily, and the company operates 75 recycling facilities across North America. Recycled plastics from these facilities are delivered to a Polymer Center for secondary processing, and PET is shredded and washed to produce a bottle-grade, clear rPET flake ready to be remanufactured into new beverage bottles.
The lower carbon footprint of Republic Services' rPET is primarily due to more effective energy use at the Las Vegas Polymer Center: The facility uses a patented equipment line that is more efficient, using less electricity and thermal energy per kilogram of flake than other mechanical recycling processes; processing is shared with other key materials recovered; and the regional utility grid has a lower carbon footprint than either the average U.S. grid or the Asian market's grid mix considered in the PCF study.
The rPET produced by Republic Services' Las Vegas Polymer Center has additional environmental benefits:
- Bottle-Grade Product: The PCF study noted that Republic Services' rPET flake is bottle-grade, unlike most rPET produced from mechanical recycling, enabling bottle-to-bottle circularity.
- Integrated Supply Chain: Republic Services manages post-consumer recycled material from the curbside to flake production, in contrast to imported rPET.
- Enhanced Circularity: The Polymer Center process also recovers and recycles non-PET materials from the stream that would otherwise be disposed of through landfill or incineration, further contributing to a circular economy.
Republic Services operates Polymer Centers in Las Vegas and Indianapolis, with a third facility under construction in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Each center will have the capacity to produce approximately 120 million pounds of bottle-grade recycled plastics annually.
For information on Republic Services' sustainability initiatives, including the PCF study relating to our Las Vegas Polymer Center, visit RepublicServices.com/Sustainability.
About Republic Services
Republic Services, Inc. is a leader in the environmental services industry. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides customers with the most complete set of products and services, including recycling, solid waste, special waste, hazardous waste and field services. Republic's industry-leading commitments to advance circularity and support decarbonization are helping deliver on its vision to partner with customers to create a more sustainable world. For more information, please visit RepublicServices.com.
INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains certain forward-looking information about us that is intended to be covered by the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "guidance," "expect," "will," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "can," "could," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance and are based upon our current expectations, which we believe to be reasonable, but cannot assure you will prove to be correct. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements are our ability to realize the expected benefits of our Polymer Centers and Blue Polymers complexes, our expectations regarding the impact of these centers, the volume of plastics they can process, the jobs and tax benefits they create and our ability to effectively scale the centers. More information on factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated is included from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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1 The PCF study used representative inputs and data derived from Sphera's Managed Life Cycle Content (MLC) database on a cradle-to-gate basis.
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SOURCE Republic Services, Inc.