ALPLA Group

ALPLA: Recy­cled pla­stic reduces carbon con­sump­tion by up to 87 per cent

Cal­cu­la­tion of the pro­duct carbon foot­print (PCF) of rPET and rHDPE in Mexico and Germany

Hard, 23 November 2023 – Recy­cling works: pla­stic pack­a­ging spe­cia­list ALPLA ope­rates state-of-the-art plants world­wide under the brand ALPLA­re­cy­cling for the pro­duc­tion of rPET (recy­cled PET) and rHDPE (recy­cled HDPE). Cal­cu­la­tion of the pro­duct carbon foot­print by the inde­pen­dent con­sul­tancy c7-consult now pro­vides new data for a total of four plants in Mexico and Ger­many. Carbon reduc­tions of up to 87 per cent com­pared to virgin mate­rials con­firm the cli­mate pro­tec­tion effect of recy­cled pla­s­tics and the eco­lo­gical importance of regional bottle-to-bottle loops. 

ALPLA is focu­sing on the cir­cular eco­nomy: the global pack­a­ging spe­cia­list invests more than 50 mil­lion euros annu­ally in recy­cling and uses state-of-the-art tech­no­lo­gies to pro­duce recy­cled mate­rial. With an installed and pro­jected output capa­city of 350,000 tonnes per year, the com­pany is one of the world’s lea­ding pla­s­tics recy­clers. Ana­lyses per­formed by the life cycle assess­ment spe­cia­list c7-consult now con­firm effi­cient pro­duc­tion at a total of four addi­tional sites in Mexico and Ger­many. There, ALPLA­re­cy­cling pro­duces rPET and rHDPE, which pro­duces up to 87 per cent fewer carbon emis­sions than virgin materials.

The figures con­firm our path. We pro­duce climate-friendly recy­cling solu­tions with a regional focus and con­vert the mate­rial into new pack­a­ging, thereby pro­mo­ting the bottle-to-bottle loop. In this way, we ensure there are safe, affordable and sus­tainable pack­a­ging solu­tions all over the world,’ empha­sises Georg Lässer, Director of Busi­ness Deve­lo­p­ment, Pro­cu­re­ment and Sales, Recy­cling, at ALPLA.

Cir­cular eco­nomy pio­neers in Mexico
ALPLA­re­cy­cling pro­duces 30,000 tonnes of rHDPE per year at its Toluca recy­cling plant in Mexico. Pro­duc­tion in Toluca causes 0.69 kg of CO2e per kilo­gram. This is 70 per cent fewer emis­sions than with HDPE virgin mate­rial (2.32 g of CO2e per kilo­gram[1]). ALPLA has been ope­ra­ting what was the first PET recy­cling plant in Latin Ame­rica at the time in Toluca since 2005 within the joint ven­ture IMER (Indus­tria Mexi­cana de Reci­c­laje S.A. de C.V.) tog­e­ther with Coca-Cola FEMSA and The Coca-Cola Com­pany. It has an annual pro­duc­tion capa­city of 16,000 tonnes of rPET. Accor­ding to the ana­lysis, pro­duc­tion causes only 0.38 kg of CO2e per kilo­gram, which is 87 per cent less than virgin PET (2.90 kg of CO2e per kilo­gram[2]).

The rPET pro­duc­tion capa­city in Mexico will be increased to 51,000 tonnes next year. The PLANETA plant (Planta Nueva Eco­logía de Tabasco) in Cun­du­acán is curr­ently being built in coope­ra­tion with Coca-Cola FEMSA. The joint ven­ture part­ners are set­ting new coll­ec­tion prio­ri­ties with the model of paying for the receipt of used PET bottles and with social coope­ra­tions. ‘Recy­cling is a key ele­ment in pack­a­ging solu­tions of the future. We want to con­vince people of the bene­fits and are dra­wing on sub­stan­tiated data to do so. Exact ana­lysis of our plants also enables us to improve our eco­lo­gical foot­print in a tar­geted manner,’ explains Carlos Torres Bal­les­teros, ALPLA Mana­ging Director, Mexico, Cen­tral Ame­rica and the Caribbean.

Ger­many: house­hold recy­cl­ables collection
With an annual pro­duc­tion capa­city of 43,000 tonnes of rPET, ALPLA­re­cy­cling is one of the lar­gest PET recy­cling com­pa­nies in Ger­many. Mate­rials sourced from house­hold recy­cl­ables coll­ec­tion are pro­cessed at the site in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Saxony-Anhalt. Unique sorting and pro­ces­sing plants were built world­wide for this pur­pose in 2019. Recy­cling PET bot­tles from house­hold coll­ec­tion leads to a slightly higher energy requi­re­ment for washing. For example, Bitterfeld-Wolfen causes 0.93 kg of CO2e per kilo­gram of rPET. This means the recy­cled mate­rial pro­duces 68 per cent fewer emis­sions than virgin mate­rial. At the PET recy­cling site in Bad Sal­zu­flen, North Rhine-Westphalia, it is just 0.68 kg of CO2e per kilo­gram, which cor­re­sponds to a reduc­tion of 77 per cent.

ALPLArecycling’s recy­cling plants in Aus­tria and Poland, for which the PCF was like­wise cal­cu­lated in recent years, prove that there is still poten­tial for opti­mi­sa­tion. Through the addi­tional use of rene­wable energy, rPET can pro­duce a foot­print of up to 0.21 kg of CO2e per kilo­gram, which cor­re­sponds to a reduc­tion of up to 93 per cent. Swit­ching to rene­wable energy is curr­ently also being con­sidered for plants in other countries.

[1] Source: eco­in­vent v3.9.1, global average
[2] Source: eco­in­vent v3.9.1, global average

  

About the ALPLA Group
ALPLA is one of the world’s leading companies in the manufacture and recycling of plastic packaging. Around 23,300 employees worldwide produce custom-made packaging systems, bottles, caps and moulded parts at 190 sites across 46 countries. The high-quality packaging is used in a wide range of areas, including for food and drinks, cosmetics and care products, household cleaning products, detergents and cleaning agents, pharmaceutical products, engine oils and lubricants.

ALPLA operates recycling plants for PET and HDPE in Austria, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Romania and Thailand. Other projects are being realised elsewhere around the world.

www.alpla.com

 

About ALPLArecycling
With approximately 23,300 employees, 190 sites and annual sales of 5.1 billion euros (2022), the ALPLA Group is one of the world’s leading companies in the production and recycling of plastic packaging. In the ALPLArecycling division, the company operates state-of-the-art recycling plants at 13 locations around the world and works with customers to develop sustainable packaging solutions that contain up to 100 per cent PCR. The annual installed and projected output capacity amounts to 266,000 tonnes of recycled PET (rPET) and 84,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE (rHDPE).

www.alplarecycling.com

 

Infor­ma­tion for editorial
ALPLA, Lukas Österle (Senior Sus­taina­bi­lity Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Manager), +43 (0)5574 6021 132, lukas.oesterle@alpla.com
Pzwei. Pres­se­ar­beit, Joshua Köb, +43 (0)5574 4471 522, joshua.koeb@pzwei.at