Klöckner, ALBA pen deal for PET bottle recycling

Film and sheet processor Klöckner Pentaplast (Montabaur, Germany) and trash-collection firm ALBA (Berlin, Germany) have agreed to jointly invest in an integrated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle-recycling pilot project to be located at Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. The €5 million company, to be called PET-CO GmbH, will be managed by Klöckner Pentaplast Group. It will apply proprietary technology transferred from Klöckner Pentaplast/Americas to reprocess recycled PET bottles as PET film for food packaging, thermoforming, technical, and box-making applications. ALBA-Wertstoffmanagement, a subsidiary of ALBA, is responsible for collecting and sorting the PET beverage containers.

The 1500-sq-m plant, which is scheduled to start up this quarter, will produce 15,000 tonnes of flake and create 30 new jobs. Klöckner says it is investing in the recycling facility as a step toward sustainable business practices and a voluntary action to fulfill the 36% recycling target specified in German waste-packaging regulations. The cleaned material should meet both domestic and European safety and purity standards.

“Klöckner Pentaplast is proactively addressing the challenges of resource utilization, environmental impact, and sustainability,” says Jo Kreuzburg, president and COO of Klöckner Pentaplast/Europe, Asia. “It is taking a lead in responsibility identifying and implementing solutions.”—[email protected]