Extrusion International 6-2021

24 Extrusion International 6/2021 INDUSTRY NEWS ALPLA Group www.alpla.com Acquisition „ The ALPLA Group is acquiring BTB PET-Recycling based in Bad Salzu fl en, Germany. The company turns PET bottles into recycled material which is then predominantly used for the production of new beverage bottles. Its bottle-to-bottle pack- aging cycle is a closed loop. BTB stands for ‘bottle-to-bottle’, in other words a closed pack- aging loop that turns bottles collected in the region into new bottles. First, BTB pre-sorts, shreds and washes the input ma- terial, then sorts it again. It is then melted down in an extru- sion process and turned into pellet form, resulting in valuable food-grade rPET. The processing volume is around 20,000 tonnes of PET bottles each year. The company has approxi- mately 35 employees, all of whomwill be kept on by ALPLA. Just recently, ALPLA and its partners announced the founding of the joint venture PET Recycling Team Targu Mures for the recycling of post-consumer PET bottles in Romania. The tar- get is annual production of 15,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET to strengthen the local materials cycle in Central and South- Eastern Europe. In the UK, ALPLA has been cooperating with the British waste management company Biffa since this year and sources food-grade rPET pellets from the Biffa recycling plant in Seaham. With this collaboration, ALPLA is increasing the proportion of British recyclate used to manufacture pack- aging in the UK. In early 2021, the ALPLA Group announced that it would in- vest an average of 50 million euros a year until 2025 in the on- going 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 pos- sible. In all, the annual capacity of the ALPLA recycling com- panies, joint ventures and partnerships amounts to approxi- mately 130,000 tonnes of PET and 60,000 tonnes of PE. In addition, the ALPLA Group is taking over Plastisax S.L. The Spanish company produces plastic bottles for the cosmetics, home and personal care segments. The takeover will enable an increased use of recycledmaterial in production operations and a strengthening of the circular economy in the region. With the purchase of the Spanish bottle manufacturer Plastisax S.L. based in the province of Alicante, ALPLA is consolidating its market position in eastern Spain and expanding its production capacities mainly for packaging solutions made from the plastic HDPE (high-density polyethylene). A smaller product area also includes bottles made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate). EBM (extrusion blow moulding) and SBM (stretch blow moulding) are used as production technologies. The company has 58 em- ployees who will be taken over by ALPLA. ALPLA plans to increasingly manufacture products with a high proportion of post-consumer recycling material (PCR) in the new plant. In autumn 2019, ALPLA bought two HDPE recycling compa- nies near Barcelona and Valladolid. They ensure the supply of the production facilities in the region with PCR and contribute to strengthening the local bottle-to-bottle circular economy cycle. ALPLA is acquiring BTB PET-Recycling based in Bad Salzu fl en, Germany. The company turns used PET bottles into recycled material (Copyright: ALPLA) ALPLA is taking over Spanish bottle manufacturer Plastisax based near Alicante (Copyright: ALPLA) „ The “Innovation in Vacuum Busch Award 2020” has been presented to the Norwegian company Quantafuel ASA. By employing Busch’s DOLPHIN liquid ring vacuum pumps, Quantafuel has developed technology that is con- tributing to solving the global waste problem by upgrad- ing plastic waste into valuable products. Upgrading Plastic Waste into Valuable Products Busch Vacuum Solutions presents its innovation award every year. This honor is awarded to individuals or busi- nesses who come up with particularly innovative ways to apply vacuum technology and benefit the human world and the environment as a result. The award was first pre- sented back in 2013 to mark Busch’s 50th anniversary.