Eastman announced significant progress towards its leadership in the circular economy. Selected by the Department of Energy as one of 33 companies for award negotiations to support Eastman’s second U.S. molecular recycling facility Named Longview, Texas, as the location for its facility Finalized incentives with the State of Texas to assist with project funding

“We are excited to build our second U.S. world-scale molecular recycling facility at our existing site in Texas,” said Mark Costa, Eastman Board Chair and CEO. “We have decades of history successfully operating in Longview, and this will be a great investment for the local community.”

Eastman can transform waste plastic into virgin quality food contact polyesters with lower greenhouse gas emissions than traditional methods.
Eastman’s second U.S. molecular recycling project has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin award negotiations for up to $375 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). The DOE announcement led to Eastman announcing the intent to build a second U.S. molecular recycling facility at its location in Longview, Texas.

The company selected the Longview site due to synergies with existing infrastructure and operations, favorable energy supply and footprint, and access to western and central U.S. feedstock pools. The location also provides enough space for onsite renewable energy. The investment includes operations that will prepare mixed plastic waste for processing, Eastman’s next-generation molecular recycling unit to depolymerize waste, and a polymer facility to create virgin-quality materials for packaging and textiles. The Longview molecular recycling facility will have the capacity to recycle approximately 110,000 metric tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.

The investment is expected to bring over 200 full-time, high-paying jobs to the Longview community in addition to approximately 1,000 temporary construction jobs during site development and building of the facility. Eastman has operated in the Longview community for over 70 years and currently has over 1,500 team members at the location.

In addition to this newly announced facility in Texas, Eastman has recently completed its first molecular recycling facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, and plans to invest in another location in France.