Alpla has announced it is building its first plastics recycling plant in South Africa.
The Austria-based packaging manufacturer already operates PET mechanical recycling facilities in Germany, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Romania, Thailand, and Mexico. Its first plant in the African continent is currently under construction in Ballito, a coastal town located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The new mechanical recycling plant will occupy a 90,000-square-meter area and is expected to produce over 35,000 tonnes of recycled PET annually. Start-up is planned for early of 2025. Alpla said it is investing €60 million in the new facility.
The company is collaborating with Re-purpose, a local waste management company, to collect waste PET as feedstock.
As part of the collaboration, Re-Purpose will maximise the utilisation of its current baling centres and set up new centres to make it easier for people to collect PET bottles. Re-Purpose will also assist Alpla in building a strategic supplier base for PET bottle bales and work with key stakeholders to expand community reach and separation at source programmes. The aim is to contribute to the collection of 5,000 tons of PET per month.
The initiative is expected to create a ‘large’ number of jobs in in KwaZulu-Natal, neighbouring provinces, and potentially throughout the country, Alpla said in a statement.
‘We are thrilled to partner with Re-Purpose to accelerate our journey towards a more sustainable future,” said Dietmar Marin, managing director of the recycling division at Alpla. “This collaboration allows us to expand our portfolio of packaging solutions made from recycled PET material, offering our customers in the region innovative alternatives that align with their sustainability goals,” he added.