Following its recent acquisition of Texplast, Austria-based ALPLA has announced a significant expansion to its German capacity in a bid to become one of the nation's top recyclers.
ALPLA Bitterfeld-Wolfen plant. Credit: ALPLA
Texplast's Bitterfeld-Wolfen plant, which can reportedly recycle 55,000 tonnes of PET plastics, has just been acquired by ALPLA. Credit: ALPLA
The firm is hoping to increase its annual processing of plastic waste to around 75,000 tonnes by leveraging its recent purchase's resources alongside those from the German joint venture PET Recycling Team Wolfen.
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Texplast specialises in developing plastic pellets and flakes from recycled bottles, which are then turned into reusable drinks bottles. This is known as "bottle-to-bottle" recycling.
"Our goal is the cycle from bottle to bottle. We are stepping up our activities worldwide to meet the growing demand for post-consumer recyclate. This investment will strengthen our position in the German market and guarantee high quality and availability of the material for our customers," ALPLA CEO Philipp Lehner said.
The firm has also sent colourful flakes made during the recycling process to its parent company, packaging developer FROMM, to create packaging straps. However, more recently they have been focusing solely on making new bottles with the PET waste.
Team Wolfen primarily recycles bottles from "yellow bag" - German household bin recycling, which are returned from household collection to the recycling loop.
"The acquisition enabled us to increase our capacity quickly and efficiently. And this will also help us to secure production for both sides in the future", said Georg Lässer, ALPLA's Head of Recycling, adding the group may continue to send the colourful flakes to FROMM in the future, which he claims formed the "perfect basis" for these developments.
"We have a highly motivated, fully functional team and we are proud to welcome all 125 Texplast employees into the ALPLA family", he added.
Texplast and Team Wolfen's infrastructure has added around 55,000 tonnes of PET output to the company's portfolio, with its acquisition of BTB Recycling in October 2021 adding another 20,000 tonnes.
Germany has already made waves in attempting to control the amount of plastic waste - particularly bottles - that end up in landfills or in the world's oceans.
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In the country, a bottle deposit scheme exists, where a customer pays a 25 euro cent levy on plastic bottles. Once finished, they can be brought back to a supermarket, inserted into a recycling machine in exchange for the returned deposit.
ALPLA claims this new expansion will raise its total recycling output to around 203,000 tonnes of rPET, the most common type of thermoplastic, and 74,000 tonnes of rHDPE, a polymer made from petroleum.
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