Coveris Netherlands has expanded its partnership with Austrian machinery supplier Starlinger Viscotec, adding a deCON 20 unit to increase its capacity for post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) in its packaging solutions.
This is the latest collaboration between Coveris and Starlinger Viscotech, which sees the third deCON unit installed in a Coveris facility.
Similar expansions were implemented at Coveris' plants in France and Poland.
The expansion at the Nijkerk facility will allow Coveris to supply rPET for packaging directly to the Dutch market, the company announced 17 May.
Coveris stated that it has observed a steady growth in PET volumes over recent years and the new deCON unit in the Netherlands is part of the strategy to address the demand.
The deCON technology allows post-consumer hot washed flakes, recovered mainly from national collection schemes, to be converted back into material suitable for direct food contact.
The module is designed to process different types of material at the same time, e.g. PCR pellets, PCR bottle flakes, or in-house skeleton waste.
The material is predryed, dedusted, and crystallised in the preheater and subsequently conveyed into the reactor vessel, where the material is dried and decontaminated.
Coveris announced the French and Polish upgrades late last year, with the first deCON20 module installed at its Soustons, France factory.
Following the “positive experience”, the company announced, a second unit was installed at their factory near Warsaw, Poland.