PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2021

7 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 03/21 www.petpla.net Alpla Group: 50 million euros a year for recycling The Alpla Group, a leader in the devel- opment, production and recycling of plastic packaging, is to invest up to 50 million EUR/a on average between now and 2025 in further expanding its recycling activities. In particular, it plans to globalise its activi- ties in the area of high-quality recyclates in order to close the materials cycle in as many regions as possible. In 2018, the packaging and recycling specialist theAlpla Group signed the Global Commitment of the New Plastics Economy (an initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foun- dation) and committed to spending a total of 50 million euros to expand its recycling activities up to 2025. Alpla is now signifi- cantly increasing this investment target. From 2021, an average of 50 million EUR/a will be ring-fenced specifically for recycling. “We have been very active in the past the past two years. We succeeded in initiating bottle-to-bottle projects around the world, including in Asia, Europe and Central America. We nevertheless con- tinue to see increasing demand on the part of our customers all over the world,” explains Georg Lässer, Head of Corporate Recycling at Alpla. This sustained demand gives Alpla the opportunity to kick-start further investment projects, says Lässer. Günther Lehner, Chairman of the Company Advisory Board, stresses that the company will focus on high-quality application areas in new regions: “Our aim is to establish a bottle-to-bottle cycle – including in regions in which the recycling of waste does not currently play a large part.” Georg Lässer sees long-term devel- opment opportunities in countries outside of Europe: “Customers around the world enquire about packaging made with a proportion of recycled materials, includ- ing in Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, China and India.” On Europe, the expert comments as follows: “This market is now highly competitive. We secured a strong market position early on in Western Europe with our own plants and partner- ships, and this is something we want to further consolidate.” Key milestones Its move into HDPE recycling in 2019 represents another milestone for Alpla. This is being continued with the construc- tion of a plant in Toluca, Mexico, which is scheduled to go into production in autumn 2021. The company is also currently cre- ating a PET and HDPE recycling plant in Thailand together with a cooperation partner. Capacities at the existing plants in Austria, Poland and Germany have been expanded over the past two years and just recently, Alpla announced the installation of an rPET extrusion system at one of its own preform plants in Italy. In all, the annual capacity of the Alpla recycling companies, joint ventures and partnerships amounts to approximately 130,000 t of PET and 60,000t of PE. www.alpla.com Sacmi Group appoints new General Manager The Sacmi Group announces the appointment of a new General Manager. In March 2021 Mauro Fenzi is to take over from Giulio Mengoli, who has, for personal reasons, considered it appropriate to ter- minate his employment. Despite all the difficulties caused by Covid-19, the year 2020 still saw Sacmi achieve good results in terms of operating margins and cash flow generation. The past year has allowed the Group to further enhance its far-reaching presence around the world. Market shares have grown in all business areas. This highly positive trend was confirmed by the projected full-year results, released at the Members’ Assem- bly.The President of the Board of Directors, Paolo Mongardi, informed the Assembly that the change in General Management would take place “in such a way as to ensure continuity of strategic and opera- tional corporate management”. He also thanked Giulio Mengoli for his valuable contribution to the company over the years. Genoa-born Mauro Fenzi, 59 years old, who holds a degree in engineering from Milan Polytechnic and has wide-ranging experience in the field of industrial automa- tion systems development, has now been appointed to the role. Mauro Fenzi has gained broad pro- fessional experience in Italy, the United States and France. Since 2014 he has been at the helm of leading multinational groups. More specifically, from 2014 to 2019 he was CEO of Comau (a leader in industrial automation), where he had covered various key positions since 2001. Since January 2020 he has been CEO of Sogefi (a leading provider of automotive components). www.sacmi.com Sipa and PTI enter into strategic partnership Sipa and PTI reached an agreement to join forces on the market, with PTI now becoming part of the Sipa group. This stra- tegic partnership will help both companies to increase their visibility and create new business opportunities. “Joining forces with Sipa makes perfect sense for PTI. We bring extensive knowl- edge in package development and material expertise to their capabilities’ portfolio,” said Thierry Fabozzi, PTI CEO. “This strong collaboration will also give PTI access to Sipa’s latest equipment and enable us to provide even better turnkey solutions for our brand-owner customers.” “We are very pleased to see PTI become a part of the Sipa group. In addi- tion to the technical synergies, we also see geographic advantages. PTI’s well- established footprint in the United States will allow Sipa to further reinforce its visibility and success for its equipment technology in North America. Sipa’s relationships elsewhere in the world will help introduce PTI as a leader in package development, giving the possibility to Sipa to provide a very comprehensive offering to the market” said Sipa Chairman Dr. Gianfranco Zoppas. www.sipa.it