Alpla posted positive financial results in 2024. The Austrian packaging manufacturer increased its turnover to €4.9 billion, up 4% from €4.7 billion the previous year.
The company said its commitment to the circular economy is ‘paying off’ as it announced a goal to double its current plastic recycling capacity to 700,000 tonnes/year by 2030.
Alpla currently invests at least €50 million a year in plastics recycling. Last October, the packaging manufacturer opened its first PET recycling plant in South Africa. It also operates PET mechanical recycling facilities in Germany, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Romania, Thailand, and Mexico. Overall, Alpla’s recycling division produces recycled HDPE and PET at 13 plants in nine countries.
Alpla’s success in 2024 was fuelled by strong growth in South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Demand in North and Central America also recovered, the company’s CEO Philipp Lehner said in a statement. Alpla is also experiencing an ‘upward trend’ in Europe, Lehner continued, noting that market conditions remain ‘challenging’.
“Increasing EU regulation is creating a lot of work and weakening our international competitiveness,” Lehner said. “This is compounded by high labour costs in some countries. We are countering this with increased efficiency, new products, and our leading role in recycling.”
In 2023, European plastics manufacturing and recycled plastics production fell for the first time. Compared to 2022, EU plastics production plunged 8.3% to a total of 54 million tonnes. The production of mechanically recycled post-consumer plastics decreased by 7.8%, to 7.1 million tonnes. By contrast, global plastics production rose by 3.4%, which means Europe’s global market share has shrunk further, to 12%. Although Europe maintains a positive trade balance in value, it became a net importer of plastic resins and finished goods, with resin exports dropping 25.4% from 2020 to 2023.
As virgin and recycled plastic production shifts eastward, Alpla announced it will open a new plant in Thailand in 2025, without offering more details. The company said the markets in the Asia-Pacific region offer ‘huge potential’. Labour and energy costs are also cheaper in the region than in Europe.
Across all its divisions, Alpla reached 200 plants and created 1,000 new jobs through new business areas, acquisitions, and training programmes. A total of 24,350 employees work at 200 locations in 46 countries, with 365 working as apprentices.