PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2021

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 18 No. 0/17 www.petpla.net 19 Ibaraki. It was combined there with with food grade qualified European pelletising and SSP systems. “These two deals led to us being prioritised by Japanese recyclers,” explains Alan Ou. “Later we supplied further wash- ing lines to Utsumi. With the import ban on plastic waste in China in 2018, numerous recycling projects emerged in Japan from 2017 to 2019, subsidised by the government by up to 50% for relevant machinery. Previously, Japan exported around 260,000 t of post-consumer PET to China each year. Without wanting to go into specific details, Mr Ou explained that current and future Boretech projects in Japan mainly involve systems with an hourly flow rate of 6 t of material for further food-grade processing. “Annually, Japan generates around 650,000 t of PET bottle waste and we estimate that by the end of 2022, around 80% of this will be recycled locally. The multinational brands are successively increasing the PCR pro- portions in their packaging, which in our view should bring various poten- tials, not least for us, in terms of high- quality recyclate manufacturing.” Alongside activities in Japan, India is the second most important trading partner. Here, mechanical engineers have installed 55 lines and systems. Now, during the pandemic, eve- rything is running a little differently. Although at Boretech itself there was just one short two-week production stop in 2020, customers have some- times postponed their projects or delayed payments, both within China and worldwide. As a result, the situ- ation has affected annual turnover, warehouse space and planning, with impacts also felt on the service side. Although it has been possible to pro- vide replacement parts quickly and easily, freight handling has been an increasing logistical barrier. Onsite at Boretech, safety measures have been implemented for staff. Maintaining a public image and presence as physical events like trade fairs have fallen away is a familiar issue for large parts of the sector but the com- pany remains relaxed. “Our products are so niche that these days we would rather invest our advertising budget in places where we want to be found, in online searches and specialist media like PETplanet,” explains Alan Ou. He continues: “In future, we want to expand our activities in Latin America so last year, we appointed a Spanish-speaking employee. The situation is similar to in Japan and offers great potential with a growing need for high-quality, food- grade recyclate. www.bo-re-tech.com One of Boretech’s PET bottle recycling projects in Japan product development caps & closures design high cavitation moulds multi-component moulds closure production systems after sales service competent – professional – inspiring +43 5572 7272-0 | sales@z-moulds.com | www.z-moulds.com