MechChem Africa June 2019

⎪ Environmental management, waste and cleaning technologies ⎪

Wolfen PET recycling team established

Austria-basedALPLA and FROMM in Switzerland have formed a joint venture with a recycling team called Wolfen as a basis for collaboration in PET recycling. Wolfen will be dedicated to recycling the PET waste from the Gelber Sack or ‘yellow bag’, a German bin for household recyclables.

T he two specialists in packaging solutions ALPLA and FROMM an- nounced their PET recycling collabo- ration for the first time in July 2018. After the completion of the installation of a third extrusion line at theWolfen location by FROMM Plastics GmbH subsidiary Texplast, whichaims to increase the annual capacity for food-grade rPET by 15 000 tonnes, Wolfen GmbH says it will recycle the PET bottles fromthe recyclables collected by households in Germany. The collaboration partners are invest- ing €7-million in sorting and processing systems at the Texplast facility in Wolfen. The competition approval was granted and the implementation should begin this year. The contracting partners have agreed not to disclose any further details. Efficient value creation, optimised lo- gistics: The Wolfen PET Recycling Team will initially focus on rigid PET packaging, most

notably non-deposit food and beverage bottles as well as bottlesforcleaningproducts. “We want to process the clear bottles fromthe yellow bag in such a way that the material can be used in the production of newbottles.We createflakesoutofthecoloured PET for use in themanufacture of strapping bands,” saysGeorg Lässer, head of recycling at ALPLA. There’s ahugebacklog for other forms of PET packaging such as trays, thermoforming films andblister packs. Examples include fruit trays, packaging for sausages and cheese, and memory cards. “The investment creates the conditions for further developing the recy- cling process for these items on an industrial scale in collaboration with the film industry. In this way, we also play an important role in achieving legal recycling targets,” says

ALPLA and FROMM found a joint venture called the Wolfen PET Recycling Team with the aim of recycling PET packaging from household recyclables. Matthias Schäfer of Texplast. “We also thus ensure thatwe can continue to produce our PET strapping bands from 100% recycled materials,” he concludes. q

June 2019 • MechChem Africa ¦ 29