PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2019

75 ON SITE PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 0/17 www.petpla.net Beyond recycling ..! Food grade rPET from Egypt’s BariQ Egyptian company BariQ, a Raya Holding subsidiary, is the first food-grade bottle-to-bottle rPET producer in the Middle east North Africa (MENA). It is located in Giza, just under 5km SW of Cairo. Founded in 2012, it specialises in processing post-consumer bottles into food grade PET pellets, compliant with FDA, EFSA, Reach & Health Canada regulations. BariQ exports to global bottle and food container producers and major fibre producers across Europe and North America. Its annual capacity of 15,000 t means that it transforms 1.6 bil- lion PET bottles a year into food grade rPET. Its operations incorporate advanced green technology, sourced from major European suppliers. The company’s portfolio includes food and non-food grade PET in both clear and green colours, plus injection grade rPP and rHDPE. BariQ is the only non-European PET recycler registered in Ecoembalajes Espana. This registration enables it to purchase PET bottle bales through the established periodic tendering system, for final recycling in its Egypt plant where it recently installed a STF grinder with V-cut technology, intended to minimise washing line downtime. The company recently installed a Tomra Autosort Flakes Sorter 2.0. This upgrade in equipment helps to maintain the quality levels needed for the conversion of flakes to higher end PET pellets, to meet customers’ evolving requirements and enable BariQ to deliver sustained output quality, regardless of input source. The upgrades also increased output capacity by 30%, while reducing contamination. The company intends to install an extra Tomra Bottle sorter, which will help to strengthen quality control of bales and elimi- nate contamination. BariQ is also planning to double capacity, in order to satisfy the increasing need for food grade rPET. As the only recycler in Egypt, BariQ embraces the respon- sibility to raise general awareness on waste management issues. It has cooperated in a number of initiatives with global players in different sectors, including Nile river clean-up pro- jects, Protectorate Natural waste collection, student education and supporting young entrepreneurs in their green projects, with field experience and financial support. BariQ joined the United Nations Development Organization’s MED TEST II project, which identified opportunities to decrease energy consumption by up to 20% per tonne. www.bariq-eg.com