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Verstraete IML's spin-off company works to give in-mold labels new lifeVerstraete IML's spin-off company works to give in-mold labels new life

January 29, 2015

1 Min Read
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Plastic Recycling Verstraete (PRV), a spin-off company of Verstraete IML, reprocesses some 3,500 tons of polypropylene waste into new raw material PP pellets each year. Plastics Recycling Verstraete is located a short distance from Verstraete IML in Maldegem, Belgium. The equipment at PRV runs “flat out” to give Verstraete IML’s business waste new life, said CEO Koen Verstraete.

“By processing the polypropylene waste from Verstraete IML, we retain control,” he explained. “We know exactly what our new raw material will be used for. For instance, the automotive and the roof cladding industries use our PP pellets to produce tires and roofing. This transparency fits within our open philosophy. Furthermore, PRV is a good example of how we do business sustainably.”

Additionally, PRV provides greater employment opportunities in the region. While PRV currently runs one reprocessing machine and employs four people, Koen Verstraete noted that with the company’s fast growth, they will soon be adding a second machine. “We would then be able to recycle waste from outside Verstraete IML, and possibly also other types of plastic,” he added.

Koen Verstraete would like to see more PP being reprocessed on a larger scale because of its suitability for recycling. “That is why we are calling on government to work together,” he stated. “Verstraete IML alone produces 45 million polypropylene labels every day – good for the same number of packages. That is a huge mountain of waste that is currently disappearing into the incinerators. Let’s join together and trust PRV to ecologically process polypropylene tubs and lids into a brand new raw material. That is a good thing for the environment.”

Verstraete will be exhibiting its innovative and creative in-mold labels at NPE2015 in booth S-36027. 

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