PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2013

EDITOUR REPORTS 13 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 03/13 www.petpla.net July 10, 2012 Plarus We met: Alexander Bystrykh, Head of Personnel Svetlana Lukina, Assistant Plarus’ ambition: get the country into PET recycling Russia‘s first bottle-to-bottle recycling plant, the Euro- plast company Plarus in Solnechnogorsk, commenced operations in 2007. Based on an adaptation of Western European recycling systems, Plarus’ plant is intended to instil into the minds of the population the importance of PET recycling – a subject which, as far as Russia’s consumers in the plastic bottles sector are concerned, is something completely different, as up to now PET bottles have been simply disposed of along with the household waste. In conversation with Alexander Bystrykh and Svetlana Lukina, Plarus emphasised that it was clearly not the com- mercial but the social components of the project that would be taking centre stage.The company’s step-by-step imple- mentation str ategy, however, will still need some support from the government over the next few years, both finan- cially and in terms of infrastructure, in order to make the project viable. Since, however, the government has up to now shown no real interest in this topic, Plarus is currently redoubling its efforts to find investors who will support the company, thus helping to safeguard the recycling projects long term. Plarus shareholders are ready to sell up to 50% of the equity, with the funds being invested in the plant to increase capacity and improve product quality. Local people have already accepted the project and are aware of the importance of recycling, says Lukina. With the support of Coca-Cola, what is so far proving to be a promising field trial is taking place in Solnechnogorsk, to the north of Moscow. Using 21 wire mesh boxes which were installed both at prime locations in the town of Sol- nechnogorsk and also in schools locally, PET bottles were T he s p e c i a l is t s i n p l a s t i c r e c y c l in g s y s t e m s. VA CU R E MA ® – P ET e x t r u si on t ec hn ol og ie s Choose the Number One. In front of the Editourmobil (f.l.t.r.): Kay Krüger, Svetlana Lukina and Alexander Bystrykh Hier Bitte Bild