South Africa's biggest PET bottle recycler Extrupet Pty. Ltd. has launched Africa's first bottle-to-bottle recycling operation at its Wadeville recycling site in Johannesburg.
The new 3,000 square meter unit, which is equipped by Austrian supplier Starlinger & Co. GmbH, produces recycled PET resin suitable for food-contact packaging and carbonated soft drinks. The plant is South Africa's first facility to use technology to provide recycled PET to bottle Coca-Cola products.
Meanwhile, Starlinger has opened its new U.S. office, in Fountain Inn, S.C.
South African line
Extrupet's PET recycling line, a recoSTAR PET 165 HC iV+, is designed to produce pellets meeting U.S. Food & Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority standards.
With a 1,800 kilograms per hour capacity, the line can supply 14,000 metric tonnes of recycled resin a year to the PET packaging industry in South Africa and neighboring countries.
The bottle-to-bottle project was first conceived three years ago when Extrupet's existing capacity was approaching its limit, according to the firm's joint managing director Chandru Wadwhani.
Extrupet has produced food-grade PET from post-consumer waste since 2000 at the site and launched its PhoenixPET brand recycled resin in 2010. The recycler supplies producers of polyester filament and staple fiber, geotextile, PET strapping and sheet, thermoforms and PET bottles.
The new recycling unit will divert an extra 22,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET bottles from landfill each year and will offer income opportunities in bottle collection for an estimated 15,000 people, stated South Africa's PET recycling association PETCO.
US office for Starlinger
American Starlinger-Sahm Inc., the U.S. branch of Starlinger & Co. GmbH, completed its move to Fountain Inn in early June.
The new facility includes a machine exhibition area, spare parts warehouse and office space. A grand opening is scheduled for September.
