Exhibit 99.1
PURECYCLE’S IRONTON PLANT PRODUCES FIRST PELLETS
Ironton, Ohio – June 20 2023 – PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCT) today successfully produced the first run of Ultra-Pure Recycled (UPR) resin from post-industrial recycled material at commercial scale. This is the first step in operating PureCycle’s flagship polypropylene (PP) purification facility in Ironton, Ohio. Once fully operational, the Ironton facility is projected to have an annual production capacity of 107 million pounds of UPR resin.
This run of post-industrial material allowed PureCycle’s manufacturing team to test the core technology concepts across various operating conditions.
PureCycle CEO Dustin Olson said, “This is a momentous achievement for all of the stakeholders that believed in us, for PureCycle, and most importantly, our Planet. No one here today will ever forget the feeling when the commercial scale pellets were produced for the first time. With this major milestone complete, we have demonstrated that the fundamental technology works as expected, and at scale. This is another important step in our mission towards helping to solve the plastic waste crisis. We will now build upon this accomplishment to optimize our process in order to demonstrate our technology across a variety of operating conditions and feedstocks.”
One of the difficulties of recycling polypropylene is that it comes in many shapes, sizes and contamination levels. The benefit of PureCycle’s technology is that it is designed to purify a variety of shapes, sizes and contaminants traditionally found in waste polypropylene. PureCycle UPR resin will be a like-virgin material, easily colorable, and not only 100% recyclable, but the Ironton facility is projected to use 79% less energy than the production of virgin PP resin. It’s also estimated to release 35% fewer carbon emissions than new PP manufacturing, further substantiating the PureCycle UPR resin’s sustainability benefits.
Documentation of the milestone will be submitted to the site’s independent construction monitor for formal certification of completion. The certification is required to achieve a key milestone in connection with PureCycle’s Ironton financing.
###
PureCycle Contact
Christian Bruey
cbruey@purecycle.com
+1 (352) 745-6120
About PureCycle Technologies
PureCycle Technologies LLC., a subsidiary of PureCycle Technologies, Inc., holds a global license for the only patented solvent-driven purification recycling technology, developed by The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), that is designed to transform polypropylene plastic waste (designated as No. 5 plastic) into a continuously renewable resource. The unique purification process is designed to remove color, odor, and other impurities from No. 5 plastic waste resulting in an ultra-pure recycled (UPR) plastic that can be recycled and reused multiple times, changing our relationship with plastic. www.purecycle.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the financial condition, results of operations, earnings outlook and prospects of PureCycle. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “plan,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “outlook,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “continue,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “should,” “would” and other similar words and expressions, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
The forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of the management of PureCycle and are inherently subject to uncertainties and changes in circumstances and their potential effects and speak only as of the date of this press release. There can be no assurance that future developments will be those that have been anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described in the section of PureCycle’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 entitled “Risk Factors,” those discussed and identified in public filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) by PureCycle and the following:
•PureCycle’s ability to obtain funding for its operations and future growth and to continue as a going concern;
•PureCycle’s ability to meet, and to continue to meet, applicable regulatory requirements for the use of PureCycle’s UPR resin in food grade applications (including in the United States, Europe and other future international locations);
•PureCycle’s ability to comply on an ongoing basis with the numerous regulatory requirements applicable to the UPR resin and PureCycle’s facilities (including in the United States, Europe and other future international locations);
•Expectations and changes regarding PureCycle’s strategies and future financial performance, including its future business plans, expansion plans or objectives, prospective performance and opportunities and competitors, revenues, products and
services, pricing, operating expenses, market trends, liquidity, cash flows and uses of cash, capital expenditures, and PureCycle’s ability to invest in growth initiatives;
•PureCycle’s ability to complete and commission its first commercial-scale recycling facility in Lawrence County, Ohio (the “Ironton Facility”) in a timely and cost-effective manner;
•PureCycle’s ability to complete the necessary funding with respect to, and complete the construction of, (i) its first U.S. multi-line facility, located in Augusta, Georgia (the “Augusta Facility”); (ii) its first commercial-scale European plant located in Antwerp, Belgium and (iii) its first commercial-scale Asian plant located in Ulsan, South Korea, in a timely and cost-effective manner;
•PureCycle’s ability to sort and process polypropylene plastic waste at its plastic waste prep (“Feed PreP”) facilities;
•PureCycle’s ability to maintain exclusivity under the Procter & Gamble Company license;
•the implementation, market acceptance and success of PureCycle’s business model and growth strategy;
•The success or profitability of PureCycle’s offtake arrangements;
•The ability to source feedstock with a high polypropylene content at a reasonable cost;
•PureCycle’s future capital requirements and sources and uses of cash;
•Developments and projections relating to PureCycle’s competitors and industry;
•The outcome of any legal or regulatory proceedings to which PureCycle is, or may become a party, including the securities class action case;
•Geopolitical risk and changes in applicable laws or regulations;
•The possibility that PureCycle may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors, including rising interest rates, availability of capital, economic cycles, and other macro-economic impacts;
•Turnover or increases in employees and employee-related costs;
•Changes in the prices and availability of labor (including labor shortages), transportation and materials, including significant inflation, supply chain conditions and its related impact on energy and raw materials, and PureCycle’s ability to obtain them in a timely and cost-effective manner;
•Any business disruptions due to political or economic instability, pandemics, armed hostilities (including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine);
•The potential impact of climate change on the company, including physical and transition risks, higher regulatory and compliance costs, reputational risks, and availability of capital on attractive terms; and
•Operational risk.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of the assumptions made by the management of PureCycle prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements.
All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements or other matters attributable to PureCycle or any person acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this press release. Except to the extent required by applicable law or regulation, PureCycle undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.