Resin maker LyondellBasell Industries is acquiring PreZero US Inc.'s recycling operations in California, a site with capacity of approximately 50 million pounds per year.
The deal includes "mechanical recycling assets and properties containing rigid plastics recycling processing lines from PreZero," LyondellBasell said in revealing the deal Feb. 20.
LyondellBasell also will lease the facility where the equipment is located in Jurupa Valley, Calif., the company said.
"This acquisition further strengthens our U.S. presence and will deliver value for our customers and plastic recycling rates in the West Coast," said Yvonne van der Laan, LyondellBasell executive vice president of circular and low carbon solutions, in a statement. "We will build upon our existing experience in plastic recycling in Europe and deliver a state-of-the-art, mechanical recycling facility to meet growing demand for recycled products in the U.S."
The plant will process post-consumer resins that will be marketed under the CirculenRecover brand, LyondellBasell said. Production is expected to begin through LyondellBasell in 2025.
The deal in California follows a 2022 move by PreZero to close a recycling site in Westminster, S.C. That decision came just a year after the company announced plans to expand that facility.
In deciding to close in South Carolina, the company at the time still held out hope of eventually creating a network of recycling facilities in the United States while focusing on the company's site in California for the time being.
"Our goal is to have a facility in all major regions throughout the U.S.," a PreZero spokesman said in 2022. "We still have big goals for our operations here in the U.S."
The U.S. operations are part of Neckarsulm, Germany-based Prezero Stiftung & Co. KG, which is part of Schwarz Group, a multinational retailer that operates the well-known grocery store chain Lidl. Schwarz also operates the Kaufland big box retail chain as well as Schwarz Production, which makes food sold at the company's stores.
On the waste management and recycling side, Schwarz has about 30,000 employees at about 480 locations in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Schwarz went into waste management and recycling as a way to counteract the impact of packaging produced for the company's retail products.