ALPLA expediting a bottle cycle in Italy
Construction of an extrusion system in Anagni for 15,000 tonnes of rPET a year
Hard, 25 January 2021 – The global manufacturer of plastic packaging and recycling specialist, the ALPLA Group, is investing more than five million euros in an extrusion system for food-grade recycled PET (rPET) made of used PET bottles (so-called post-consumer material) at its site in Anagni.
Anagni in central Italy is home to one of the ALPLA Group’s most important preform production plants. The plant, which currently has a workforce of 91, processes around 50,000 tonnes of PET a year, of which only a very small proportion is recycled material as of today. But in future a substantial portion of the volume required is henceforth to be supplied in the form of recycled material, giving customers the option of sourcing preforms made partly or even entirely of rPET.
To this end, ALPLA is installing an extrusion system for 15,000 tonnes of rPET a year at the existing business premises. The investment sum for construction of the building needed and for the system totals more than five million euros. It is scheduled to go into operation in the second half of 2021. Ten new jobs will be created.
Exploiting synergies
‘We will buy in PET flakes made from used household packaging from local recyclers, process them into food-grade rPET and then use this at the site for preforms,’ says Fabio Mazzarella, Plant Manager in Anagni. According to Mazzarella, production of the recycled material right there in the processing operations results in attractive synergies in logistics and warehousing and potentially also energy.
Boosting the circular economy
Georg Lässer, Head of Corporate Recycling at ALPLA, considers the investment in central Italy to be a foresighted strategic decision. ‘We want to promote the bottle-to-bottle cycle and avoid downcycling. In addition, we would like to boost local recycling solutions in a region that does not have the necessary infrastructure for the bottle loop up to now’ the recycling expert explains. The demand for recycled material can currently be managed well. ‘But with this measure, we are ensuring that we can offer our customers optimum support with realising new specifications and targets in the long term too and that we can offer them top-quality recycled materials.’
More information about the company: www.alpla.com
About the ALPLA Group
ALPLA is one of the leading companies involved in plastic packaging. Around 21,600 employees worldwide produce custom-made packaging systems, bottles, caps and moulded parts at 178 sites across 45 countries. The high-quality packaging is used in a wide range of areas, including for food and drinks, cosmetics and care products, household detergents, washing and cleaning agents, pharmaceutical products, engine oils and lubricants.
ALPLA operates its own recycling plants for PET and HDPE in Austria, Poland and Spain, and in the form of joint ventures in Mexico and Germany. By signing the New Plastics Economy’s Global Commitment in October 2018, ALPLA pledged to achieve certain goals by 2025: all packaging solutions are to be fully recyclable and the volume of recycled materials is to increase to 25 per cent of the total materials used. A sum of 50 million euros has been earmarked for ALPLA’s expansion of its recycling activities.
Enquiry information for editorial:
ALPLA, Alexandra Dittrich (Senior Sustainability Communications Manager), tel.: +43 (0)5574 602 1083, email: alexandra.dittrich@alpla.com
Pzwei. Pressearbeit, Werner F. Sommer, tel.: +43 (0)699 1025 4817, email: werner.sommer@pzwei.at