10 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 10/21 www.petpla.net Tethered caps industrial trial In recent months Arol has been cooperating with CocaCola, together with several closures manufactures, in the validation process of the new GME 30.40 CSD (carbonated soft drinks) PET fi nish, both at laboratory level (c/o Arol premises) and at industrial level (c/o CCEP production line in Barcelona plant Spain). GME 30.40 (CETIE code) PET fi nish is the fi rst international standard specifi cally developed for tethered closures to be compliant with SUP EU Directive. The industrial trial at the CCEP Barcelona plant involved the production of more than 6 million sellable bottles 500ml size closed with new 26/22 CSD tethered closures. The directive requires the lids and caps of single use plastic (SUP) bottles and composite packaging with a capacity of up to 3l to remain tethered to the containers for as long as they are used. For the changeover to tethered caps, Arol is working with packaging manufactures and bottling line manufactures to minimise the impact of the changes. The company states that in most cases, a simple chuck cones replacement in the equipment will be enough to run these new caps. www.arol.com Fakuma 2021 review The 27th Fakuma international trade fair for plastics processing celebrated a restart in Friedrichshafen from October 12-16, 2021. 1,470 exhibitors from 39 countries came to Lake Constance for the fi rst major international on-site event for the plastics industry this fall, and presented injection moulding, extrusion technology, thermoforming and 3D printing on a world-class level. Overall emphasis was placed on the issues of sustainability, circular economy and recycling. After the compulsory one-year hiatus, the event on 85,000m2 of overall exhibition fl oor space. The fact that 40% of the exhibitors came from outside of Germany substantiates Fakuma’s signifi cance all over the world, especially in these exceptional times. “I’m delighted that something like this is possible again,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Bastian, Institute director of the SKZ in Würzburg, at the trade fair’s opening ceremony. In his technical presentation to an auditorium full of trade press and guest listeners, he pointed out impressively what needs to be done in the industry: “We have to take more responsibility for what happens with plastic.” Martin Bastian made a passionate plea for the cause of plastics. The exhibition halls in Friedrichshafen were very well frequented right from the fi rst day of the event. Interested expert visitors were able to gain an impression of the latest developments and perspectives for concrete solutions in the fi eld of plastics processing. www.fakuma-messe.de/en Alpla acquires BTB PET-Recycling The Alpla Group, a global packaging solutions and recycling specialist, is acquiring BTB PET-Recycling based in Bad Salzufl en, Germany. The company turns used PET bottles from Germany’s reverse vending system into recycled material which is then predominantly used for the production of new beverage bottles. Its bottle-to-bottle packaging cycle is a closed loop. In acquiring BTB PET-Recycling GmbH & Co. KG, Alpla is investing in further developing the region’s recycling loop. Bottle-to-bottle BTB pre-sorts, shreds and washes the input material, then sorts it again. It is then melted down in an extrusion process and turned into pellet form, resulting in valuable food-grade rPET. The processing volume is around 20,000 t/a of PET bottles. The company has approximately 35 employees, all of whom will be kept on by Alpla. Georg Pescher, Managing Director of Alpla in Germany, says: “By acquiring BTB, we are investing in a very structured company which has been operating successfully within the local circular economy for years and which is already supplying our preform business in Germany with rPET. What’s pivotal here is a functioning system comprising a bottle return infrastructure, bottle production and bottling companies in the direct vicinity of the recycling plant.” The parties signed the contract on September 28, 2021. They have agreed not to disclose the purchase price or any further details. Expansion of recycling activities Just recently, Alpla and its partners announced the founding of the joint venture PET Recycling Team Targu Mures for the recycling of post-consumer PET bottles in Romania. The target is annual production of 15,000t of food-grade rPET to strengthen the local materials cycle in Central and South-Eastern Europe. In the UK, Alpla has been cooperating with the British waste management company Biffa since this year and sources food-grade rPET pellets from the Biffa recycling plant in Seaham. With this collaboration, Alpla is increasing the proportion of British recyclate used to manufacture packaging in the UK. In early 2021, theAlpla Group announced that it would invest an average of 50 million EUR/a until 2025 in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities. In particular, it plans to globalise its activities in the area of high-quality recyclates in order to close the materials cycle in as many regions as possible. 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
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