imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Hubweg 15 74939 Zuzenhausen, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 [email protected] EDITORIAL Kay Barton Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Anthony Withers Editorial & WikiPETia. info [email protected] MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann [email protected] Johann Lange-Brock [email protected] phone: +49 6221-65108-0 LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur Matthias Gaumann www.exprim.de READER SERVICES [email protected] PRINT Chroma Druck Eine Unternehmung der Limberg-Druck GmbH Danziger Platz 6 67059 Ludwigshafen, Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | www.petpla.net PETplanet Insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ subscription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trademarks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 09/24 www.petpla.net I started my tour through Oman, Qatar and Kuwait at the PRS Middle East & Africa 2024 in Dubai. A recycling fair in a region without recycling. It was small, but the 125 exhibitors made a pleasant show of it. For visitors from outside the Gulf States – especially those from Africa – there were many rPET suppliers and plant manufacturers from India, China and other countries represented. However, the search for regional recycling companies was fruitless. The issue of rPET is non-existent in countries that have crude oil reserves and can obtain virgin PET cheaply. At best, in-house recycling makes sense, at least for the production of plastic sheets. I spoke to recycling system providers at the PRS about why this is the case. Christoph Wöss, Business Development Manager of the Erema Group for the Bottle Application division: “We have two recycling plants at two locations in the region, each with a capacity of 1,600 kg/h, to directly recycle offcuts from sheet production. In Saudi Arabia, we also operate a preform production facility at Bariq. But in the Emirates or Oman? No, not a single bottle-to-bottle (b-to-b) system. People are not used to collecting rubbish; it all ends up in landfill. In the future, the idea of sustainability will also reach here, but I can’t tell you when that will be.” Christian Lechner, Regional Sales Manager at Starlinger: “There is no bottle-to-bottle recycling here. Virgin PET is so cheap and no consumer wants a slightly grey bottle. As there is a lack of b-to-b recycling, bottlers can also easily produce opaque bottles for energy drinks or fruit juices that are no longer suitable for b-to-b recycling due to their colour. By contrast, some manufacturers make sure that the bottles of exported drinks do not disrupt the recycling stream. It remains to be seen when the pressure for sustainability will be felt in these parts.” Peter Hartel, Head of Sales CN/MEA, Krones Recycling GmbH: “We have invested a lot of manpower in Krones Recycling GmbH in Flensburg and Neutraubling, which has been independent since July. We believe that PET recycling is a very important building block for the acceptance of the PET bottle. Only in this region has the topic not yet arrived, possibly blocked by the large local virgin PET manufacturers. One cracker after another is put into operation here.” Yours, Alexander Büchler Dear readers,
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