Plastics Recycler Gets $2 Million to Fight Climate Change

Office of Public Affairs
For Immediate Release: October 16, 2018
News Release #2018-21
Media Contact: Lance Klug

Sustainable Packaging Company to Create Jobs, Cut GHG Emissions in Los Angeles County

SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has approved a $2 million California Climate Investment loan to rPlanet Los Angeles, LLC for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) recycling infrastructure at its new facility in Vernon.

The financing from CalRecycle’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Loan Program will allow rPlanet to:

Transform 1,000 tons of plastic waste into new sustainable packaging each year
Create 52 new jobs
Reduce 1,500 MTCO2e of annual greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change

“Projects like this show California has committed partners in the private sector willing to make substantial investments to combat climate change and protect the future of our people and our planet,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline said. “These public-private partnerships are the foundation of California’s global leadership on climate change and sustainability and will be crucial to our future success in these areas.”

CalRecycle’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Loan Program is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment, particularly in disadvantaged communities. The loan program seeks to reduce GHG emissions by providing direct, low-interest loans to expand capacity or establish new facilities in California that manufacture recycled materials into beneficial products

How does recycling plastic help fight climate change?

In addition to conserving natural resources like oil, manufacturing products from recycled materials requires less energy and results in fewer GHG emissions than making products from virgin materials.

CalRecycle Support Available for Recycling Businesses

CalRecycle provides financial and technical assistance to help reuse/recycling-based businesses develop and prosper in California.

CalRecycle’s California Climate Investment grant and loan programs support the construction, renovation, or expansion of facilities that turn organics, fiber, plastic, or glass waste materials into new products.
CalRecycle’s RMDZ program provides loans, technical assistance, and free product marketing to businesses that use materials from the waste stream to manufacture their products.
CalRecycle also assists businesses by helping locate recycled manufacturing materials, making permitting referrals, and providing demographic and waste stream analysis.

For more information contact: Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov