Alpla expands PET recycling efforts in Poland

Alpla, an Austria-based packaging producer with its own plastic recycling operations, has further expanded production at its recycling plant in Radomsko, Poland.

The company is investing around $8.8 million to install a third extrusion line at the site and annual production capacity at the Radomsko plant will increase from 30,000 to 54,000 metric tons of food-grade recycled-content PET (rPET). The firm calls the facility “one of the largest recycling plants of its kind in Europe.”

“Alpla stands for sustainable packaging solutions made of plastic,” says Dietmar Marin, managing director of Alpla’s Recycling Division. “As a system provider, we develop products optimized for recycling, process high proportions of recyclate in production and take care of efficient recycling. With our global focus on recycling and our commitment in Central and Eastern Europe, we make a significant contribution to the regional bottle-to-bottle cycle.”

Per a European Union directive, by 2025 all PET beverage bottles in the EU are supposed to contain at least 25 percent postconsumer recycled material. The expansion of the site in Poland can help meet the EU requirement, says the firm.

“We actively work with customers to create closed loops for PET packaging and accompany them on their sustainability path,” says Mariusz Musiał, Alpla country manager for Poland. “To this end, we are taking care of meeting tomorrow’s needs today and already have some excellent examples in reality.”

“With this investment we are targeting the Polish market in particular and ensuring that sufficient rPET is available to our customers," adds Beata Szynkiewicz-Razik, commercial director in Radomsko.

The installation of the third extrusion line in Radomsko will expand the Alpla workforce to more than 100 employees. “PRT Radomsko has stood for top quality and excellent operational performance for over 10 years,” Plant Manager Marcin Jabłoński says. “The expansion of the site is a confirmation of our highly motivated team and strengthens our position in the market.”

Alpla invests roughly 55 million euros annually in the global expansion of its recycling activities. Projects it has undertaken include joint venture recycling plants in Mexico, Thailand and Romania and another planned for South Africa. “The total annual production capacity of all recycling companies and collaborations is around 266,000 metric tons for rPET and 74,000 tons for recycled HDPE [high-density polyethylene],” according to the firm.