Expanded polyethylene foam
Japan-based plastic foam manufacturer JSP has acquired a 30% stake in General-Industries Deutschland, a German recycler of expanded polypropylene (EPP) and expanded polyethylene (EPE).
The acquisition secures ‘long-term market access to high-quality recyclates’ in Europe, JSP president, Masakazu Sakaguchi, said in a statement.
As part of the transaction, General-Industries Deutschland (GID) has carved out its non-foam business into General-Industries Polymere GmbH. GID has been collecting, sorting, compacting, and regranulating EPP and EPE waste from packaging and industrial waste from processors across Europe for over 25 years. Its production site in Eschwege, a town in Hessen, operates 25 compactors.
JSP and GID started their partnership in 2019, when GID produced PP regranulates that JSP then manufactured into expanded PP beads under the brand name Arpro Re, a grade with over 90% recycled content.
The acquisition comes amid record-breaking plastic recycling rates in Germany, which hit 67.5% in 2022. Last week, the German Plastics Recycling Association (bvse) announced German plastics recycling companies would be able to apply for energy subsidies from Jan. 1, 2025.