PETnews 6 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 26 No. 03/25 www.petpla.net Veolia invests in PET recycling in Europe Veolia, an environmental services provider, is expanding its PET recycling capacities across Europe. The company is investing in the modernisation and expansion of its facilities in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, and Norrköping, Sweden. The goal is to increase the output of food-grade rPET to meet the growing demand in the food industry. In Frauenfeld, Veolia is leveraging artificial intelligence to improve input quality and adding an extra extruder for the production of food-grade rPET. In Norrköping, a facility expansion and a new extruder will boost the output of high-quality granules. With these investments, Veolia expects to increase its production of food-grade rPET by approximately 30%. According to Guido Adomßent, CEO of Veolia Umweltservice Group, the collection systems in Scandinavia and Switzerland create essential conditions for a closed-loop PET recycling process. He explains that Sweden, for instance, has mandatory design regulations for PET bottles allowed for sale, which ensures very high recycling quality and, in turn, leads to high-quality recyclates. www.veolia.de Packaging specialist Alpla opens new plant in Thailand Alpla is expanding in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region and opening a second location in Thailand. The modern plant in Chachoengsao, near Bangkok, combines all production technologies, technical centre and STUDIOa, a ‘one-stopshop’ for design, on a 24,000m2 site. Alpla is thus increasing capacities, expanding its portfolio and offering safe, affordable and sustainable full-system solutions made of plastic to numerous industries and markets. With this second location in Thailand, Alpla is multiplying its production capacity in the country. Chachoengsao is replacing Prachinburi as the headquarters and expanding the portfolio to include injection moulding (IM) and one-step injection stretch-blow moulding (ISBM) technologies.Alpla will be manufacturing high-quality plastic bottles, preforms, matching closures and injection-moulded parts in Chachoengsao using all core technologies. All production lines have been producing in volume since the beginning of 2025. More than 190 skilled workers are employed in Chachoengsao. The new location in the Bangkok metropolitan region stands out for its customer proximity and optimal connections. At its first plant in Prachinburi, Alpla will concentrate fully on extrusion blow moulding (EBM) in the future. www.alpla.com Origin Materials announces commencement of PET cap commercial production Or igin Mater ials announced the commencement of commercial production of PET caps at its manufacturing centre in Reed City, Michigan, USA, on its first Origin CapFormer System. The company confirmed that three additional CapFormer lines are currently being built and tested and are expected to complete their Factory Acceptance Tests in Q2. They also reaffirmed previous guidance, stating that they remain on target to have a total of eight CapFormer lines online by the end of 2025. The CapFormer line is performing as expected and is expected to produce hundreds of millions of PET caps annually, according to Origin CEO and Co-Founder John Bissell. Origin Materials continues to refine its technologies and manufacturing processes to enhance production rates and improve unit economics for future lines. The company views this development as a key step in addressing the $65 billion closures market. The newly produced PCO 1881-compliant caps are expected to be transformative for the packaging industry, delivering the performance benefits and recycling circularity associated with PET caps. Beyond the 1881 format, Origin’s technology platform is designed to enhance the sustainability and performance of a broad range of packaging solutions, both existing and new. “Market interest and the strength of the overall demand for our caps continues to suggest we will be able to sell every cap we can make,” said Bissell. “We have multiple MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding) signed, with a growing list of prospects in the qualification phase, and a growing pipeline of new potential customers. We’re looking forward to announcing additional MOUs along with customer names in the coming months.” Looking ahead, the company plans to scale production on the first CapFormer line gradually. Additional CapFormer Systems are being manufactured and tested alongside the startup of the initial line, with further systems scheduled to come online throughout 2025. www.originmaterials.com
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