Alpla is investing around eight million euros in a third extrusion line at its recycling plant in Radomsko, Poland.
The expansion will add some 24,000 tonnes of capacity at the site, boosting this to 54,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET pellets annually. As a result, PET Recycling Team (PRT) Radomsko will become one of the largest recycling plants of its kind in Europe.
“As a system provider, we develop products optimised for recycling, process high proportions of recyclate in production and take care of efficient recycling. With our global focus on recycling and our commitment in Central and Eastern Europe, we make a significant contribution to the regional bottle-to-bottle cycle,” said Dietmar Marin, Alpla managing director of the Recycling Division.
PRT opened ten years ago, and this latest expansion will ensure the availability of a secure supply of food-grade PET recycling material for Alpla - even after 2025, when the EU regulation takes force requiring all PET beverage bottles in the EU to contain at least 25 percent of post-consumer recycled material. With the Polish site's expansion, Alpla is creating the basis for meeting these EU requirements in the regional markets in which it is active.
“We actively work with customers to create closed loops for PET packaging and accompany them on their sustainability path. To this end, we are taking care of meeting tomorrow’s needs today and already have some excellent examples in reality,” said Mariusz Musiał, Alpla country manager Poland.
“With this investment, we are targeting the Polish market in particular and ensuring that sufficient rPET is available to our customers”, added Beata Szynkiewicz-Razik, Commercial Director of PRT Radomsko.
Installing the third extrusion line in Radomsko will create twelve additional jobs and expand the team to more than 100 employees. Alpla invests around 50 million euros annually in the global expansion of its recycling activities and new lighthouse projects. The company recently started production at its joint venture recycling plants Envicco in Thailand and PET Recycling Team Targu Mures in Romania. Also, in June 2023, it announced news about its first recycling plant in Africa in Ballito, South Africa. The company’s recycling initiatives reach a total annual production capacity of around 266,000 tonnes for rPETand 74,000 tonnes for rHDPE.