Eastman enters into chemical recycling offtake agreement with PepsiCo

Eastman announced in its third quarter financial results that it has confirmed an offtake agreement with consumer brand giant PepsiCo for its third PET molecular recycling facility (planned) in the United States.

Although the financial statement did not specify the exact amount of offtake agreements, the molecular recycling facility has a planned input capacity of 160,000 tons/year for difficult-to-recycle PET waste and a planned output capacity of more than 150,000 tons/year.

The facility is expected to come online by the end of 2026.

The total capacity of the three plants is 420,000 tons

As Eastman stated in its earnings release, "This agreement is an important milestone for Eastman's circular Economy platform, and we look forward to making progress on this and two other molecular recycling projects in the coming quarters as we continue to show the world that anything is possible."

This latest agreement gives Eastman confidence in their base load requirements. While the location of the facility has not been announced, tax documents filed earlier this year indicate that Texas is being considered.

As reiterated on their most recent earnings call, Eastman's first plant in Kingsport, Tennessee should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2023, with a capacity of 110,000 tons per year of difficult-to-recycle PET waste.

A few weeks ago, Eastman secured raw material supplies for a second plant in Port-Jerome-sur-Seine, France, through InterZero. With a planned investment of up to $1 billion, the facility is expected to be operational by 2025 and will recover approximately 160,000 tons of difficult-to-recycle PET waste annually.

Eastman polyester regeneration technology

Eastman calls his recycling technique "molecular recycling." Currently Eastman has two molecular recycling technologies: carbon recycling and polyester recycling.

Polyester recycling technology recycles a range of polyester plastic waste, including soft drink bottles, carpets and even polyester clothing from landfills and incinerators. It's not just clear, disposable water bottles, but also products like colored plastic bottles and carpet fibers.

Eastman's polyester regeneration technique uses glycolysis or methanol alcoholysis to depolymerize waste into basic monomers to create new materials. The resulting molecules are indistinguishable from materials made from raw or non-recycled ingredients. This process allows us to recycle polyester waste again and again without degrading over time, with a 20 to 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to processes using fossil fuels.