Anthony Langel is a newcomer to the plastics industry by many standards, with four years under his belt as the finance director of Retal PA LLC.
Langel left a consultancy position to join the multinational PET packaging company for professional growth and to make a difference for his young family.
"I feel that there is a cultural shift where responsible plastic is valued, and I enjoy being a part of this," Langel said. "Hopefully, my children will only ever know 100 percent recycled PET plastic packaging."
Retal PA is part of a business group that consists of 12 limited liability companies. The others are in Europe and Ukraine. All are subsidiaries of Retal Industries Ltd., a privately owned holding company headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. The Retal portfolio includes PET preforms, PET bottles and containers, PET and polyethylene films, high density PE closures and handles, and flexible packaging.
Retal PA, the only U.S. operation, is part of the plastic packaging business unit that does annual sales of 661 million euros ($712 million), according to the company's 86-page Sustainability Report 2022, which Langel had a hand in compiling. It makes packaging mostly for food and beverages but also the cosmetics and household markets.
Regardless of whether someone crunches numbers or operates a molding machine, Langel said they have a role to play in making the industry better.
"I believe that everyone in the plastic community is responsible for the future of our industry," he said. "I'm a big supporter of plastics; many applications that consumers need rely on plastic. But it's also the most visible material when it's not recycled. We all have a great opportunity to encourage a future of plastic that is sustainable, practical and reliable."
For the sustainability report, he worked with Retal's chief sustainability officer to gather data from the plant in Donora, Pa., and then with his own team he collated all the carbon footprint reporting. The Donora facility injection molds preforms and closures.
Retal officials believe using recycled resins is fundamental to the promotion of a circular economy of plastic packaging, the report adds. However, recycled material still isn't economical, and Retal can only supply what customers demand. For example, food-grade recycled PET is significantly more expensive than virgin PET because of the high demand and low availability.
End users of plastic products need to be more aware of their role in the circular economy and plastics processors could use an incentive, Langel added.
"To help drive the price of recycled material down, there needs to be more realistic options. Perhaps rather than taking virgin material, a tax credit for using recycled material would be a positive push?"
Outside of the office, Langel spends most of his time with wife and young family. He's involved in several community sporting associations and coaches his daughter's softball team and son's baseball team. "My definition of relaxing has changed since having four young children," Langel said. "I try to find stress release at their sporting events as it helps to center me and see the energy of the next generation."
When he considers his career, too, Langel said: "The combination of being a parent and working for Retal has had a profound impact on how I think of sustainability. I like being an active part of a company that is dedicated to being part of the solution when it comes to the circular economy, not just taking the shortest path."
As part of his job, he also enjoys being part of the Retal team when STEM students in a BotsIQ program come for their tour.