8 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 12/24 www.petpla.net Bericap takes full ownership of Bericap North America Bericap, a leading manufacturer of plastic and aluminium closures, has announced an agreement to acquire the 50% stake in Bericap North America (BCNA), held to date by Amcor Rigid Packaging. This means that familyowned global manufacturing company Bericap will acquire 100 per cent of the shares in BCNA. The joint venture, founded in 1997 as a 50:50 partnership between Bericap and Amcor in Burlington, Ontario, has grown to become a successful business with annual revenue of USD 200m. BCNA operates three production facilities located in the USA (Cowpens, South Carolina), Canada (Burlington) and Mexico (Mexico City) and offers the complete Bericap closures portfolio for the food, beverage and industrial markets. The acquisition of the shares in BCNA is the most significant investment in the company’s almost 100-year history and demonstrates its strong commitment to the North American market. www.bericap.com Opening of PET bottle processing plant in Latvia On October 23, the new factory of AS Iterum (formerly PET Baltija) was opened in Olaine – one of the largest in Northern Europe with a planned processing capacity of 80,000 t/a, or about 30% more than it was possible to provide at the company’s previous production facility in Jelgava. Iterum has invested more than USD 10 m (€10 m) in the creation of the new factory, while the total investment reaches more than USD 37 m (€35 m). Iterum’s newly opened factory will be one of the largest and most modern PET processing plants in Northern Europe and one of the largest industrial buildings in Latvia, with a total indoor area of approximately 30,000m2 and an outdoor area of approximately 40,000 m2. The building complies with the sustainable construction standard Breem, it will fully use energy obtained from renewable resources. Wastewater treatment equipment, unique in Latvia, has been installed in the factory, which allows the consumption of chemicals in the process of wastewater treatment to be reduced. An efficient air recuperation system has been created, which also provides for the excess thermal energy generated in the PET melting process to be used for heating the building. The new factory will provide more than 250 jobs, with a special focus on employee well-being and the sustainability of the working environment. Jūlija Zandersone, the chairman of the board of JSC Iterum, says that sustainability is one of the main pillars of the factory’s operation, while at the same time prioritising the quality of the final product, which the Latvian manufacturer can offer on the international market: “Almost 100% of our production is exported. The main sales countries are Lithuania, Germany, Finland, Poland and other regions of the world. Although Latvia is territorially small compared to other European countries, we can be proud that in terms of PET processing with high-quality production, we are able to reach up to 5% of this market share. We believe that the new Iterum factory is a new step for the further development of PET recycling, aiming to increase its market share even more.” The Eco Baltia project was implemented with the support of INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and in cooperation with domestic industrial park developer SIA Piche. In turn, equipment suppliers are among the distributors of the most modern solutions, one of which is the Austrian manufacturer Starlinger. www.iterum.lv www.agrintl.com +1.724.482.2163 • Accurate. Fast. Intuitive. • Powerful, Simple Job Creation and Editing • Pre-Defined Container Measurement Routines • AutoJob® — Automated Feature Recognition and Job Setup in Seconds Partner with Agr to achieve simplified, dimensional measurement for your plastic containers and preforms! ®
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