PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2016

PET news 6 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 06/16 www.petpla.net PET recycling plant for MEG The soft-drinks producer Mitteldeutsche Erfrischungs- getränke GmbH & Co. KG (MEG) is part of the Schwarz Group that also owns the Lidl and Kaufland supermarket chains. The company is Germany’s second-largest beverage producer, with domestic sales of more than 25 million hectolitres, and also exports its wares throughout Europe. Since 2010, MEG has taken back the deposit-bearing, non-returnable bottles from the DPG system (German deposit system). MEG now uses PET bottles which are processed into regranulate at its own recycling plant and at various contract recycling com- panies. To increase regranulate quantities still further, MEG is building another recycling plant near Aachen, Germany. As part of this project, Krones AG was awarded the order for the installation of a module that grinds bottles into flakes, and a washing module. MEG also appointed Krones as the vendor responsible for the interfaces to the upstream and downstream process stages. www.krones.com Uptrend for South African PET recycling Plastics SA – the umbrella organisation representing the local plastics industry – has been measuring the recy- cling rate of plastics in South Africa. According to their latest survey, the recycling of PET has seen a strong and steady growth over recent years. While 30,690t of PET was recycled in 2011, last year, 2015, saw a recycling rate of 53,493t of PET. The recycling rate of other plastics such as PP, PE-HD or PVC has, however, shown a slight decrease. Plastics SA Director Anton Hanekom cites historically low oil prices which led to lower polymer prices. This in turn had a direct impact on the price of recycled material which resulted in minimal growth and a slowdown in the amount of plastics which could be diverted from landfill, says Hanekom. According to the latest Plastics SA figures, the lack of a con- sistent incoming stream of recyclables was the single biggest challenge plastics recyclers had to face during 2015. A large quantity of the materials that were made available for recycling, was recovered by waste pickers off landfill sites where they were contaminated and therefore of poor quality. According to Hanekom, there is the need for an effective separation-at- source infrastructure to be implemented throughout the country. www.plasticsinfo.co.za Change in management at Corvaglia Closures Mexico Bernardo Osés, Managing Director of Corvaglia Closures S.A. de C.V. (in Ixtla- huaca, Mexico), and Francisco González, Consultant, have left the company with effect from 1 June 2016. The Board of Directors and management expressed their regret at these departures, and would like to thank Mr Osés and Mr González for their many years of dedication to the company and wish them every success for the future, both privately and professionally. José Salame has been named new Managing Director of Corvaglia Closures S.A. de C.V. Salame boasts an exemplary service record and has many years of experience as a deci- sion maker in the beverage-packaging industry in Mexico. www.corvaglia.ch PET recycling established in Europe - but with room for expansion PET accounts for almost 7% of total plastics consumption per year in Europe or about 3.1 million tonnes. Overall, the 30 countries of Europe achieve an average collection rate of 57%. In 2014, for example, 1.75 million tonnes of post-consumer PET wastes were collected. The collection rates vary greatly. While Germany, Italy and Switzerland collect about half of the total volume, some countries achieve a collection rate of only 10 to 20%. The PET sector is enjoying rising collection rates overall, which, according to PCI PET Packaging, Resins & Recycling Ltd., should increase by a further 3 to 5%/a by 2019. It is almost exclusively bottles that are collected, usually in dedicated collection schemes. Although it was originally the goal to return the collected bottle flakes to bottle production, the industry has sought and found customers in other areas. For film/sheet manufacturers, post-consumer bottle flakes have become increasingly interesting, and in 2014 they used the big- gest share – 34% – of the collected residuals in their branch of industry. Almost 30% of the flakes were used in blow moulding applications, 26% in the fibre industry and the rest for packing straps and other products. www.k-online.com Husky and MHT settle long-standing dispute After many months of ongoing discussions, Husky Injec- tion Molding Systems and MHT Mold & Hotrunner Technol- ogy announced that they have come to a joint agreement to settle all pending disputes regarding issues concerning trade secrets. After many years of litigation, Husky and MHT have decided to amicably resolve any differences relating to this dispute. The terms of the settlement are confidential and both Husky and MHT look forward to closing this chapter to continue focusing on their respective businesses. www.husky.co www.mht-ag.com José Salame