Republic Services JV breaks ground on recycled plastics facility

Republic Services, Blue Polymers and the City of Buckeye broke ground on Blue Polymers’ latest recycled plastics production facility, which will support sustainable packaging manufacturing throughout the Western U.S. The 162,000-square-foot facility is expected to create more than 60 permanent jobs when it opens in Buckeye in the second half of 2025. The Blue Polymers facility will specialize in recycled polyethylene and polypropylene, used in consumer packaging, such as margarine tubs and yogurt cups. These plastics will be processed and formulated into high-quality, drop-in recycled plastic solutions for the packaging industry. Republic Services, a joint venture partner in Blue Polymers, is developing a network of regional Polymer Center plastics recycling facilities. These centers produce color-sorted recycled plastics directly from Republic’s national curbside collection operations. Each Republic Services Polymer Center will be paired with a Blue Polymers facility; the Buckeye facility will process materials from Republic’s Las Vegas Polymer Center, which opened in late 2023. Blue Polymers’ facilities aim to support true package-to-package circularity, with an annual production target of 300+ million pounds of recycled resins. The Buckeye facility joins the Indianapolis location as part of Blue Polymers’ network of four regional facilities.