10 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 04/24 www.petpla.net Inauguration of Circular PET plant in Japan Veolia, in partnership with a global trading and investment company Mitsui & Co.Ltd. and Japanese leading retail conglomerate Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., announces the inauguration of the Circular PET plant in Tsuyama, Japan. This state-of-the-art facility is claimed to mark a milestone in realising a circular business model that recycles used PET bottles into high-quality raw materials for PET bottles. This plant joins Plastiloop, a network of over 40 Veolia plastic recycling plants spread across the world. Veolia is the world leader in recycled plastic, with 500,000 metric tons of plastic recycled by 2023. PET bottles with caps or labels left on or leftover drinks have been considered difficult for bottle-to-bottle recycling in Japan. Using Veolia’s experience and know-how, the Circular PET plant has been designed to recycle such material and produce new food-grade PET bottles, contributing to a more sustainable future. The plant can produce 25,000 t of food-grade recycled PET resin per year, reducing 27,500 t of CO2 emission and meeting brand owners’ increasing demand. To ensure a steady supply of raw materials, Circular PET has established partnerships with key players in the industry, including the West Japan Railway Company and Kyushu Japan Railway Company. These partnerships enable the collection of used PET bottles, which are then sorted, crushed, washed, melted, and subjected to solid-state polymerisation to produce high-quality recycled PET resin. www.veolia.jp/en Dairy Gropper obtains independent certification for rPET Dairy Gropper has had the use of rPET recyclate in its PET bottle range certified by the independent seal “Flustix Recycled – DIN tested”. With the successful certification of rPET usage in bottles through this seal, the actor in the beverage and dairy industry intends to provide its customers with transparency for product labelling of their packaging in terms of responsible resource management. The customer base of the traditional dairy includes international retail conglomerates as well as the largest German retailers such as Lidl and Aldi. With the certification, the company, headquartered in Bissingen, Germany, ensures that a variety of packaging is produced as sustainably as possible and can be communicated to consumers at the point of sale as a more sustainable alternative to comparable products. “Our goal is the cycle. Plastic is ideal for preserving the safety and high quality of our food and is therefore an important resource. That’s why we have been working with recycled PET for years – out of conviction,” says managing director Heinrich Gropper. A particular advantage for retailers sourcing products from Gropper: If they wish to continue highlighting the use of recyclates in their own brands and communicate this to consumers, this can be done with a simple fast-track procedure. “Buyers can sub-certify their own brands produced at Gropper and now pre-certified. This offers, for example, the LEH the opportunity to use the recognised seal and thus communicate their sustainability commitment to consumers, also within the framework of the upcoming EU Green Claims Directive, with a certified seal,” says Malte Biss, founder of the Flustix initiative. “In a time when consumers are increasingly sceptical of self-declarations, the independent certification implemented by us simplifies the offering of credible and recognised sustainability claims for our customers’ own brands,” explains Wolfgang Hoff, managing director of Gropper. “With this step, we are preparing: even before the EU Green Claims Directive comes into effect, we offer a fast and easy-to-implement sub-licensing system with Flustix. This minimises the effort for our customers.” The Flustix Recycled certification covers the rPET (PCR) content of 50% and 100% in all transparent and light blue rPET bottles of Gropper products in 14 sizes ranging from 90ml to 1,500ml. www.gropper.de www.fl ustix.com PROCESS PILOT+ Achieve Your Sustainability Goals and Produce Your Best Product TM Agr’s Process Pilot system provides personalized process control response to each unique bottle GHVLJQ EORZPROGHU ȴQJHUSULQW Ȃ VDIHO\ DQG TXLFNO\ 1R ELJ GDWD MXVW UHOLDEOH GDWD ZZZ DJULQWO FRP
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