Austria-based packaging manufacturer Alpla has opened its first PET recycling plant in South Africa.
It is Alpla’s first plant in the African continent.
Located in Ballito, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, the 90,000-square-metre site required an investment of €60 million. Construction took around 18 months. The opening ceremony took place on Oct. 31.
Alpla plans to start production in early 2025. The Ballito recycling plant will have an initial output capacity of 35,000 tonnes of rPET flakes, of which 16,000 tonnes will be processed into rPET pellets. The recyclate will be processed into packaging at Alpla’s production plant in Lanseria, near Johannesburg, which started production in October 2022.
“South Africa is a strategically important market for us and one in which we want to continue to grow,” said Alpla CEO Philipp Lehner. “Together with our customers and partners, our aim is to provide safe, affordable and sustainable packaging solutions to our customers and to continue improving standards of living. With our investments in Ballito and before that in Lanseria, we have laid the foundation for a successful future.”
Recycled plastic produced at the new plant will help Alpla’s customers meet recycled content targets set out in the country’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulation.
South Africa’s EPR policy came into force in 2021 and currently requires PET drink bottles to contain at least 10% recycled material. From 2026, that requirement will double to 20%.
Alpla’s investment comes as South Africa’s plastic recycling industry is experiencing its ‘worst’ situation in the past couple of years, according to the country’s plastic recycling organisation (SAPRO).
In a recent interview with Sustainable Plastics, Oliver Bonstein, general manager at SAPRO, said that South Africa is experiencing a delayed crisis effect in comparison with the rest of the world. Whilst recyclers were able to push through the first wave of challenges plaguing the industry since 2022, many have now shut down. Bonstein attributed their downfall to lack of continuous investment in new machinery or technology.
Alpla also operates PET mechanical recycling facilities in Germany, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Romania, Thailand, and Mexico.