Business
Evergreen Recycling is a leading supplier of post-consumer recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in the North American recycled resin industry. The company collects and processes post-consumer PET bales (primarily soft drink and water bottles) and converts them into PET flake and pellets, serving the food and beverage and consumer packaged goods sectors.
Situation overview
Sterling executed the carve-out of a recycling facility from an existing portfolio company, and merged it with a facility acquired through a bankruptcy process. Sterling then embarked on an integration and turnaround plan, expanding the business to one of the largest PET recyclers in the United States.
Sterling began studying recycling as an investment theme in 2014. In 2019, Sterling began operating recycling facilities through its investments in Tangent and Greenbridge, both of which recycled various waste streams to supply their respective manufacturing operations.
In 2021, Sterling saw the opportunity to build the nation’s leading standalone PET recycling company. Through a series of complex transactions, Sterling has built Evergreen into an national recycler that processes over 11 billion PET bottles a year that might otherwise be landfilled.
Sterling has invested heavily in capital expenditures to add capacity and upgrade its facilities, including investing in automation that has increased the yields of the company’s facilities. Evergreen has also expanded its customer base to include many of the largest consumer packaged goods companies in the world.
*The experience cited here is not necessarily reflective of all who have partnered with Sterling. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Further, this individual is not an investor in any of Sterling’s affiliated investment funds, but was previously employed by a portfolio company of Sterling’s and it is possible such individual may wish to be employed by a Sterling portfolio company in the future. While this individual was not compensated for this endorsement, this individual was compensated as an employee of the portfolio company during its partnership with Sterling, and it is possible that this individual may have received or in the future receive other tangible benefits from Sterling.
