PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2017

11 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 09/17 www.petpla.net IS STILL 50% TOO MUCH. 50% L SS P CK G NG The KHS solution for more sustainability: New avenues in packaging technology. We are continuously improving our packaging. By applying innovative technologies and swit- EJKPI QXGT VQ OQPQ OCVGTKCN RCEMCIKPI YG JCXG JCNXGF QWT RCEMKPI OCVGTKCNU QXGT VJG NCUV ƂXG [GCTU #PF YG CTG UQQP VQ VCMG CPQVJGT DKI UVGR HQTYCTF KP WUKPI PGY VJKPPGT V[RGU QH ƂNO www.khs.com drinktec 2017 September 11 – 15 Hall B4 | Booth 328 Carbon footprint of recycled PET Recycled PET (rPET) from PET Recycling Team GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alpla based in Wöllersdorf/ Lower Austria, results in 79% lower CO 2 emissions compared to new material. This is a significantly higher saving than previously assumed. A study conducted by denkstatt GmbH on behalf of Alpla came to this conclusion. Alpla, an international producer of plastic packaging solutions, has been working on PET recycling for over 20 years. Although the economic conditions for the recycling of plastic are currently difficult due to the low price of oil, Alpla continues to follow this development of its sustainability strategy. To high- light the value of recycling PET plastic, Alpla commissioned denkstatt GmbH to calculate the carbon footprint for rPET. The result of the study exceeds previous assump- tions. The rPET produced by PET Recycling Team GmbH in Wöllersdorf has a carbon footprint of 0.45kg CO 2 equiva- lent per kilogram of rPET. Virgin PET, or new material, accounts for a CO 2 equiva- lent of 2.15kg per kilogram. This corresponds to a CO 2 equivalent of 1.7kg or 79% lower greenhouse gas emis- sions for rPET. Plant manager Peter Fröschel explains: ‘The savings for a single kilogram of rPET are enough to power a 13-watt bulb continuously for twenty days in the Austrian power mix.’ The carbon footprint was calculated in accordance with ISO 14044, starting with the col- lection and sorting of used PET bottles, covering transportation to the recycling plant in Wöllers- dorf, through to washing, processing and granulating. The analysis is based on the mass and energy balance (electric- ity and gas consumption) for 2016 at the Wöllersdorf recycling plant in Austria. Alpla has decades of experience in the recycling of PET, as well as in the processing of recycled plastics. Alpla operates recycling enterprises at three sites – a joint venture in Mexico, the wholly owned subsidiary PET Recycling Team in Wöllersdorf and a new recycling plant built in southern Poland in 2013. The annual capacity of these plants is around 65,000t of food-grade rPET. ‘We are witnessing a clear trend towards PET packaging. And not just in summer, when the beverage industry enjoys a boom due to hot weather,’ says Fröschel. This makes it all the more important to collect used packaging and return recyclable materials to the production process. ‘Our recycling plants play a key role in this regard,’ the plant manager concludes. www.alpla.com