Dive Brief:
- Re:Circle Solutions, a privately held recycling business, in June revamped operations at its Ontario, California, facility focused on organics. The business is an overhaul of assets acquired from PreZero US, a recycler that was owned by The Schwarz Group, a German retail company that also owns the Lidl chain.
- The business includes a 100-ton-per-day depackaging facility that can process organic waste into animal feed. Other outputs are sent to anaerobic digestion, with landfills used as a destination of last resort.
- Re:Circle also launched TraceOS, its system allowing clients to track the circularity of materials they send to the company. Clemens Stockreiter, founder of the company, said the business offers auditable solutions for clients needing to meet California’s SB 1383 diversion requirements.
Dive Insight:
The appetite for organic waste processing is growing as more companies look to achieve economies of scale. That’s especially true in California, where businesses and municipalities continue to face deadlines to successfully divert their organics from disposal or procure products made from those organics, like compost or animal feed.
Stockreiter was formerly CEO of PreZero US, a recycler that primarily handled plastic waste. The Schwarz Group has wound down its operations in the country, selling certain mechanical recycling assets to LyondellBassell last year. Re:Circle Solutions also operates Oroville Flexible Packaging, another facility spun out from PreZero assets.
Stockreiter acquired the organics recycling assets from PreZero US in December. He said the company’s Ontario facility has operated for roughly 15 years, and continued to operate during the transition in ownership…