MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 09/24 www.petpla.net 12 Spanish processor relies on recycling equipment from Germany From bottles to preforms to rPET The company Nosoplas, which was founded in 1996 in Bergondo, Galicia, Spain, by our interview partner Jose Carlos Piñeles, initially specialised in PET bottle blowing on the Iberian Peninsula before producing its own preforms some years later and increasingly focusing on rPET processing and production from 2012. Recycling systems from the German manufacturer Britas are used for this – the company recently added a fully automatic Britas band melt filter to the line. With an expected recycling throughput of around 43,000 t of post-consumer PET bottles this year, Nosoplas is contributing to the current massive demand for food-grade recyclate. Britas ABMF-1050-PET-C “Our original business was blow moulding PET bottles for CocaCola bottlers in Spain and Portugal,” explained General Manager Jose Carlos Piñeles in our interview. The company founder has been working in the packaging industry since 1986 and knows it like the back of his hand. “We later moved into injection moulding and started producing our own preforms in 1999, before turning our attention to sustainable packaging and rPET in 2012.” And the demand for high-quality recycled PET in Spain and Portugal proves the company right. “We definitely wanted to be one step ahead of the competition in this important area. Meanwhile, in addition to this factory in Bergondo, we have also been operating another one in the centre of the country in the city of Tarancon, Cuenca, since 2020 for logistical reasons.” The company currently sells around 42,000 t/a of rPET pellets. The corresponding post-consumer PET bottles are sourced exclusively from the EU. “Like everywhere else, we are confronted with a natural variability in the quality of the collected raw material. This is currently the major challenge for all recyclate producers who want to produce high-quality material that can ultimately be used in food contact,” explained Mr Piñeles. Legally prescribed minimum quantities of recyclate in packaging would then drive demand even higher. “We produce rPET with different viscosities, depending on customer requirements. The most common range is from 0.76 to 0.84, with 0.80 being in high demand for bottle-to-bottle.” In the process, the flakes are inspected using an inspection system before they are fed into a wet cutting system and finally a Solid State reactor via a drying, extrusion and filter melting process using Britas equipment. The ABMF-1050-PET-C band melt filter was recently added to the line and ensures that the process is characterised by a particularly high degree of filtration and that very little waste is produced during the process, which, according to the company, leads to the lowest costs for consumables. In addition to the beverage industry, which accounts for over 90% of Nosoplas’ output and whose main customers are Coca-Cola European Pacific Partners (CCEPP) bottlers, the recyclate produced is also used in the textile and detergent sectors. Nosoplas uses around half of the company space at both sites, around 1,000m2 each, for rPET production and employs a total of 110 people. And the company is growing rapidly: we were told that turnover had doubled since the Tarancon plant opened, reaching US$ 130 million in 2023. Competitors in the market include Novapet, Plastipak, Alpla and Retal. “What sets us apart is our comprehensive customer service, flexibility and adaptability to customer requirements,” concluded Mr Piñeles. Nosoplas is currently planning further investments and expansion in the areas of sustainability and energy reduction. www.linkedin.com/company/nosoplas-sl by Kay Barton
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