INITIATIVE | 132 Clear Path Recycling, Shaw's joint venture with DAK Americas, is the largest plastic bottle recycling facility in the United States. Located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the plant produces Recycled PET (RPET) flake from post-consumer PET bottles.
Clear Path has the capability to recycle up to 160 million pounds of PET bottles per year, which will save more than 550,000 cubic yards of landfill space annually. The energy savings related to the Clear Path Recycling operation will save more than 1.9 trillion BTUs of energy annually, which is equal to the amount of primary energy necessary to power over 20,000 U.S. homes per year, according to Energy Information Administration data.
Shaw and DAK are the primary users of the RPET Flake in their respective polyester-based products including carpets, fibers and resins. The remaining product is sold for merchant use. Future plans for the facility would increase the recycling rate to 280 million pounds or about 5 billion bottles per year. This will make the manufacturing plant the largest recycling facility in North America.
Watch the video below to see how Clear Path works.
