Plastic packaging expert Alpla, has installed a second Starlinger rPET extrusion line at its PET recycling plant in Radomsko, Poland.
With the addition of the new line, production capacity at the plant has been expanded from 15,000 to 30,000 tonnes of regrind a year Alpla has long partnered with Starlinger, an Austrian manufacturer of recycling machinery and has used the technology developed by this machinery manufacturer for many years.
The rPET produced at Pet Recycling Team Radomsko will be fed back in the bottle cycle, the company said, for the production of new packaging units and downcycling will be avoided. Input for the new bottle-to-bottle recycling line is post-consumer material from the countries of Europe – from Poland and its neighbours.
Next to expanding the capacity of the plant at Radomsko, Alpla has taken further step towards increasing the sustainability of its operations there by wholly switching the energy supply to renewables. In calculating the carbon footprint, an independent consultancy firm - c7-consult – concluded that the production of one kilogram of PET regrind material generated only 0.27 kilograms of carbon equivalent, or 88% (or eight times) less greenhouse gas than the production of virgin material (2.19 kg of carbon equivalent according to PlasticsEurope).
When the plant opened in 2013, demand was hardly what it is today, said Alpla.
‘Over the years, PRT has held its own in a challenging market environment, helping to ensure that PET packaging units are seen as recyclables,” said Beata Szynkiewicz, Commercial Director at PRT Radomsko. “Our market is now ready and, with the new set-up, we are in a strong position to make high-quality regrind material in the most sustainable way possible.”