ALPLA and TEXPLAST cooperate more closely for PET recycling

Source: André Kehrer

ALPLA and FROMM have been successfully cooperating with PET recycling since July 2018. A further extrusion line at Texplast's Wolfen site will increase the capacity for food-grade PET regranulate by 15,000 tonnes a year. ALPLA will return this regranulate to the materials recovery system in Europe but, above all, in Germany.

The Austrian company ALPLA, a packaging solutions specialist, and the German recycling company Texplast, a subsidiary of FROMM Plastics, both benefit from the collaboration. Over recent months the two companies have successfully managed to stabilise the quantity and quality of the raw materials at a high level for both their production plants.

Texplast is now investing in a third extrusion line and is increasing the annual capacity of food-safe PET regranulate by 15,000 tonnes to a total of approximately 27,000 tonnes. At present, Texplast is building a new hall at the company's site in Wolfen to accommodate the expansion. The new plant is scheduled to go into operation in April 2019. According to Texplast the sum invested is around 4.5 million euros.

Availability of recycling material

"The demand for recycled plastics is rising continually. We are having to move our recycling activities up a gear in order to supply our customers with the quantities they require. With Texplast as our partner, we have access to high-quality recycling material on the German market," says Georg Lässer, Head of Recycling at ALPLA, and he adds: “We are also gaining access to expertise and experience in the logistics field and benefiting from the existing network with food retailers."

Matthias Schäfer, who holds a power of attorney at Texplast, highlights the advantages: Texplast has fine-tuned its logistics operations to collect the recyclable material produced from the deposit bottles and transport it to the recycling facility via the shortest route, thus keeping its carbon footprint to a minimum. "The cooperation with ALPLA completes the bottle-to-bottle recycling process: we recycle the deposit bottles returned to food retailers to produce high-quality food-safe regranulate, which ALPLA then uses to make preforms for new PET drink bottles. FROMM uses the coloured flakes manufactured during the process to produce its own strapping."

For more about the company: www.alpla.com and sustainability.alpla.com; www.fromm-pack.com and www.texplast.de

Photo source: André Kehrer