The plastic packaging manufacturer Alpla is investing €8m in adding an extrusion line that will raise its PET recycling capacity in Poland. The Radomsko site will see its annual production capacity increase from 30,000 to 54,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled PET. Alpla said that the move would make PET Recycling Team (PRT) Radomsko one of Europe’s biggest PET recycling plants.
“As a system provider, we develop products optimised for recycling, process high proportions of recyclate in production and take care of efficient recycling. With our global focus on recycling and our commitment in Central and Eastern Europe, we make a significant contribution to the regional bottle-to-bottle cycle,” remarked Dietmar Marin, the head of Alpla’s Recycling Division.
Starting in 2025, all PET beverage bottles in the EU should contain at least 25 per cent post-consumer recycled material. By expanding its site in Poland, Alpla was creating the basis for EU requirements to be met in regional markets. “We actively work with customers to create closed loops for PET packaging and accompany them on their sustainability path. To this end, we are taking care of meeting tomorrow’s needs today and already have some excellent examples in reality,” stressed Mariusz Musiał from Alpla Poland “With this investment we are targeting the Polish market in particular and ensuring that sufficient rPET is available to our customers,“ added Beata Szynkiewicz-Razik from PRT Radomsko.
PRT Radomsko was creating 12 new jobs by installing the third extrusion line, bringing its team to over 100 employees, plant manager Marcin Jabłoński commented.
Alpla said that it was investing an average of €50m annually in recycling by 2025. The company believed that it was fully on track thanks to beacon projects, such as reusable PET, bottles made out of 100 per cent recycled PET and the recent start-up of production at its joint venture facilities Envicco in Thailand and PET Recycling Team Targu Mures, Romania. In June, the company announced its first African recycling plant, which will be located in Ballito, South Africa. Alpla put the annual production capacity of all recycling companies and partnerships at roughly 266,000 tonnes for recycled PET and 74,000 tonnes for recycled HDPE.
