Two German plastic firms have taken steps to gain access to recycled material this week, as the price and demand for recycled content continues to rise.

The first involves plastic manufacturer ALPLA Group which has acquired the German recycling firm Texplast and its joint venture, PET Recycling Team Wolfen. Secondly, Kunststoff Recycling Grünstadt has completed a recycling plant in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate

The acquisition by ALPLA access to 55,000 tonnes per year of recycled plastic from Texplast, adding to the 25,000 tonnes it gained when it acquired BTB Recycling in October 2021.

Austria-owned ALPLA makes packaging for a range of multinational companies including Danone and Unilever.

In early 2021, the ALPLA Group announced that it would invest an average of 50 million euros a year until 2025 in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities. In particular, it plans to globalise its activities in the area of high-quality recyclates in order to close the materials cycle in as many regions as possible.

In total, the annual production capacity of ALPLA’s recycling companies, joint ventures and collaborations amounts to approximately 203,000 tonnes of rPET (recycled PET) and 74,000 tonnes of rHDPE (recycled HDPE).

Meanwhile, plastic recycling firm Kunststoff Recycling Grünstadt (KRG)  has completed the commissioning phase of its 55,000 tonnes per year capacity plastics recycling plant in Rhineland-Palatinate.

According to KRG, the plant turns the post-consumer material into granules, which are used as a  raw material in processing industries.

The 32 million euro plant focuses on thermoplastic fractions such as HDPE, PP, PA, and other engineering plastics, KRG said.

“These are processed using state-of-the-art sorting, washing, and extrusion technology. At the end of the process, mill materials, granules, or compounds are produced, the high quality of which is continually verified in our own testing laboratories,” the company added.

KRG is co-owned by Pre-Zero, which acquired several Suez facilities across the continent in 2020.

From 1 January 2021, as part of the Covid-19 recovery package, the European Union introduced a measure in which member states have to contribute  €0.80 for each kilogram of unrecycled plastic packaging it produced.

When it first published the legislation in 2020, the European Commission estimated it would generate €6.8 billion in revenue, with a ‘correction mechanism’ in place to help less wealthy member states. Estimates suggest Germany could have to pay up to €1.3 billion per year.

The UK’s plastic packaging tax, placed on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic, will come into effect from 1 April 2022. This has sparked a flurry in the marketplace for recycled content, with recycled plastic prices doubling in the UK and remaining high.

Our address is: letsrecycle.com, Roar B2B, First Floor, 115 Southwark Bridge Road London SE1 0AX

© Environment Media Group Ltd 2022. Company registration number 03959158. Registered office: 55 Station Road, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 1QL

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