Curious about how Evergreen went from one to four plastic recycling and rPET manufacturing facilities in a single year? The best way to get the inside story is to catch up with our leadership team at the Plastics Recycling Conference, March 7-9 in National Harbor, Maryland. Manning Booth #340 for Evergreen is the all-star team of Greg Johnson, general manager; Peg Sherry, sales and new business development manager; and Michael Sandoval, director of corporate purchasing.
The Plastics Recycling Conference is the largest gathering of plastics recycling and sustainability professionals in North America, annually bringing together more than 2,000 industry decision-makers. While Evergreen has participated for many years, 2022 will be a breakout year. In 2021, Evergreen acquired three facilities—Albany, New York; Amherst, Nova Scotia; Riverside, California.
Having a network of recycling/manufacturing facilities across North America has boosted the number of post-consumer PET bottles collected and recycled by Evergreen from 2 billion a year to 11.6 billion a year. At the same time, Evergreen’s manufacturing capacity of high quality, food grade rPET has jumped to 147 million pounds a year. The company is currently expanding its rPET manufacturing capacity at its Clyde facility, adding two new lines. Evergreen is now among the top three largest producers of food grade rPET in North America.
GM Greg Johnson is eager to tell the Evergreen story during the three-day Plastics Conference. In addition to meeting with customers at Booth #340, he is part of a panel discussion on Tuesday, March 8 at 10:45 am on the Impact of Private Equity on the recycling industry. Greg will be joined by John Griffin, principal, The Sterling Group; Alexandria Tennant, senior analyst for PET/rPET, Wood MacKenzie; and moderator Maite Quinn-Richards, managing director, Closed Loop Partners. Evergreen is a portfolio company of The Sterling Group.
“This is a high-powered panel with people who really understand the financial and operations sides of the recycling business,” Greg says. “I would encourage everyone to grab a seat for this discussion.”
Conference attendees with post-consumer and post-industrial PET to sell are encouraged to stop in and see Michael Sandoval, who is in charge of acquiring PET for recycling. Now that Evergreen has three “mouths” to feed with post-consumer PET, he is ready to make new connections. Says Mike, “Recycling is a competitive business and I’m eager to tell the new Evergreen story. Many of our MRFs and aggregators have had long-term relationships with us and there’s a good reason for that. We are very much a service company to our suppliers and customers.”
Peg Sherry is leading Evergreen’s sales of food grade rPET, and she in particular is celebrating Evergreen’s expanded manufacturing capacity, but also the company’s ability to meet the exacting specifications of customers across the food and beverage, health and beauty, and home products industries. “Consumer preference for sustainable packaging is palpable, and companies are listening and responding. The demand for high quality, food grade rPET is way up so our growth in manufacturing rPET pellet is well-timed,” Peg says.
Make sure you attend the Plastics Recycling Conference. Here’s where to register. And make double sure that Evergreen at booth #340 is at the top of your list to visit! To learn more about Evergreen, visit our website here.
