PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2019

PET news 6 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 03/19 www.petpla.net Loop Industries expands supply agreement with Danone for 100% sustainable PET Loop Industries, Inc., a leading technology company in sus- tainable plastic for packaging, announced that it has completed a multi-year supply agreement with Danone SA. Danone will purchase 100% sustainable and upcycled Loop branded PET from Loop’s joint venture facility with Indorama Ventures Lim- ited in the United States for use in brands across its portfolio including Evian water. www.loopindustries.com Alpla completes takeover of Zamil Alpla The packaging solutions specialist Alpla, based in Austria, has completed a 100 per cent takeover of Zamil Alpla. Alpla and Zamil founded a joint venture in 2008, of which Alpla previously held a 49 per cent share. After ten years of close collaboration as part of a joint venture, Alpla has acquired all the shares of Zamil Alpla. The buyer will continue to run the company as before, and with all employees, under the name Alpla. Around 390 employees produce preforms and packaging made from HDPE and PET at three locations in Dammam, Jeddah (both Saudi Arabia) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates). The acquisition was signed on December 27, 2018 and will be completed in the first quarter of 2019. The contract- ing partners have agreed not to disclose any of the details of the agreement. www.alpla.com Temporary endorsement for perforated sleeves on HPC PET bottles Petcore Europe’s ODR Working Group has been work- ing on increased recyclability of sleeved PET bottles as the use of sleeves can cause problems in sorting of PET bottles via Near Infrared (NIR) and optical detectors used in waste plastic packaging sorting and recovery plants. In order not to lose material and include it in the right sorting stream, the group under the lead of Chair Gian De Belder, P&G, came up with the solution of perforated sleeves. These can be removed by the consumers of the Household and Personal Care (HPC) PET bottles. The Technical Committee of the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) has awarded a temporary endorsement to full body sleeves for a period of three years, provided the following conditions are met:  The sleeve is equipped with double perforations which is designed to be easily identified and removed by consumers.  The packaging industry develops a standardised perfora- tion concept, both in terms of functionality (easy tearing off operation) and design (immediate recognition), irrespective of the type and content of the PET bottle.  To support the above, PET bottles with perforated sleeves must carry a standardised message for the consumer asking them to remove the sleeve from the bottle, and then place both the bottle and the sleeve in the collection bin or bag for recycling.  The packaging industry must support consumer coopera- tion with communication campaigns and provide data on the effectiveness of the consumer engagement.  The PET bottle behind the sleeve must be compliant with the EPBP guidelines for transparent clear/light blue bot- tles and the sleeve should allow the recognition of the PET bottle, by polymer, if the sleeve is still present on the bottle before sorting.  The sleeve design (materials and inks) must allow it to float in hot water and separate from PET flakes in a sink/ float separation step.  Printed sleeves must not bleed inks into the washing water. Now that the conditional approval has been achieved, the industries involved will work together to meet the condi- tions. Meetings between the Petcore Europe ODR Working Group, A.I.S.E and Cosmetics Europe are already planned in the upcoming weeks. The three-year period will be used to assess the packaging industry commitment in adopting the solution and to measure consumer engagement in removing the sleeves. www.petcore-europe.org Acquisition of packaging business in Nigeria Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited signed through its indirect subsidiary, Indorama Netherlands B.V., a definitive share purchase agreement on February 6, 2019 with Church Street Trustees Limited as trustees of the SI Trust, BTI Over- seas Limited and Capital Alliance Private Equity II Limited, for the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Bevpak (Nigeria) Limited (“Bevpak”). Bevpak is one of the largest manufacturers of PET pre- forms in West Africa and is located in Ibadan, Nigeria, with a production capacity of 18,000mt per year. The value of the above acquisition, calculated in accordance with the regula- tions of the capital market supervisory board and the stock exchange of Thailand, as prescribed by the regulations of the Stock Exchange of Thailand Re: Disclosure of information and other acts of listed companies concerning the acquisition and disposition of assets, 2004 (as amended), is less than 15 per cent and the total size of all transactions in the past 6 months also does not exceed the 15 per cent threshold limits as pre- scribed in the regulations. This transaction is expected to be completed within Q1, 2019, subject to regulatory approvals. www.indoramaventures.com