Austrian packaging company Alpla and Swiss packaging equipment supplier Fromm Holding AG have announced plans to collaborate on recycling PET waste in the German market.
The two companies, which both operate recycling plants for PET bottles, will be working on the distribution of PET waste among their recycling units as part of the agreement, announced July 3.
“At Alpla, we mainly need clear, food-grade pellets. Fromm processes colored flakes for the strapping bands,” explained Georg Lässer, head of corporate recycling services at Alpla.
The collaboration between the recycling facilities, he noted, “will ensure the necessary quantity and quality of materials for production for both sides.”
The move, the two companies believe, will optimize recycling rates for PET and "significantly reduce" CO2 emissions through saved transport.
Additionally, the partners will benefit from simplified access to markets in their respective countries.
The two companies declined to disclose further details of the cooperation but said the agreement would see their production sites complementing each other.
Alpla runs PET Recycling Team plants in Wöllersdorf, Austria, and Radomsko, Poland. Combined, the two facilities have an annual capacity of approximately 45,000 metric tons of food-grade rPET produced from post-consumer materials.
Fromm also owns Texplast PET in Wolfen, Germany, which has been a subsidiary since 2004. Texplast produces PET pellets and PET flakes, which FROMM uses in its own production of strapping bands.
Speaking to Plastics News Europe, a company spokeswoman said the venture is currently a cooperation between the two companies, but further possibilities to extend the collaboration are to be explored.