ECONOMY AND MARKET |
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Alpla Expediting a Bottle Cycle in Italy
The global manufacturer of plastic packaging and recycling specialist , the Alpla Group , is investing more than five million euros in an extrusion system for food-grade recycled PET ( rPET ) made of used PET bottles ( socalled post-consumer material ) at its site in Anagni . Anagni in central Italy is home to one of the Alpla Group ’ s most important preform production plants . The plant , which currently has a workforce of 91 , processes around 50,000 tonnes of PET a year , of which only a very small proportion is recycled material as of today . But in future a substantial portion of the volume required is henceforth to be supplied in the form of recycled material , giving customers the option of sourcing preforms made partly or even entirely of rPET . To this end , Alpla is installing an extrusion system for 15,000 tonnes of
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rPET a year at the existing business premises . The investment sum for construction of the building needed and for the system totals more than five million euros . It is scheduled to go into operation
The Alpla factory in Anagni , near Rome
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in the second half of 2021 . Ten new jobs will be created . ‘ We will buy in PET flakes made from used household packaging from local recyclers , process them into food-grade rPET and then use this at the site for preforms ,’ says |
Fabio Mazzarella , Plant Manager in Anagni . According to Mazzarella , production of the recycled material right there in the processing operations results in attractive synergies in logistics and warehousing and potentially also energy . Georg Lässer , Head of Corporate Recycling at Alpla , considers the investment in central Italy to be a foresighted strategic decision . ‘ We want to promote the bottle-tobottle cycle and avoid downcycling . In addition , we would like to boost local recycling solutions in a region that does not have the necessary infrastructure for the bottle loop up to now ’ the recycling expert explains . The demand for recycled material can currently be managed well . ‘ But with this measure , we are ensuring that we can offer our customers optimum support with realising new specifications and targets in the long term too and that we can offer them top-quality recycled materials .’ |