PETplanet

Friendly stewardesses, constant dripping tea pots, passenger queues for the toilets, and no beer served. The fully booked Transaero flight from Bangkok is heading with tired tourists toward Moscow. While for most passengers a long journey will end in the Russian capital, for me it is only a transit point for

I’m absolutely shattered. Not only the new time change (Ekaterinburg is again two hours ahead), but the last few days and weeks have been strenuous. Shortly after 9 o’clock I’m already in Torsten’s room. He, Rolf and Felix had picked Michael up at the airport late last night or rather early

Good morning Iveco. After a quick breakfast, we are greeted by the friendly staff at Iveco, and ushered into the workshop. Then follows the second odyssey starting with an inspection of the engine compartment, tests, and finally a test drive. With Rolf furiously accelerating and breaking, I can work only intermittently.

Today we are determined to get to Ekaterinburg. Ahead of us lie several hundred kilometres on possibly dodgy roads. So yet again it will be purely a driving and writing day. But the goal is within our grasp and that spurs us on. Today we will be reaching the Urals, and

So as not to waste any time, we are at Iveco’s front door promptly at 9 o’clock. It takes no time at all to explain the situation in Ekaterinburg with the spare part for the defective engine, and outline the problem. We are in luck, they have the part. We do

It would be difficult to underestimate our concern that evening over the immediate prospects for the remainder of the tour. On the road to Kazan we stop for a rapid breakfast which lifts our spirits a little. It was agreed with the garage that we should wait at a kilometre marker

As we leave the city behind us, we are greeted by a sensational sunrise. Just for a moment, everywhere is peaceful, the streets deserted. It is not to last. We drive through a varied landscape of forests, tiny villages and gas production facilities. We soon find ourselves confronted by the usual

An early departure is the order of the day. Like almost every morning, if time and network availability allows, I answer emails and generally check everything is OK. In the afternoon we are supposed to be at Bericap, which still has to be arranged. A few hours later we arrive in

It is shortly after 10 o’clock, when Svetlana Ansimova, whom we have already met up with on our visit to Alfatechform, comes over to greet us. Over a delicious coffee she shows us round the office and we discuss the latest happenings in the PET world. A little later Sergey Kozhin,

When I wake up, we are already at Husky’s front door. The appointment is at 10 o’clock, so we have time for a quick coffee and breakfast. We are also awaiting the arrival of area representative, Roland Koch, along with Igor Kim from Luxembourg, who is in Moscow on business today.

Once again we are up and about very early, for the first appointment is at 8.30 at Plarus in Solnechnogorsk, some 15 kilometres from Europlast. Plarus, a PET recycling company, is part of the big Europlast group, so it makes sense to interview both Plarus and Europlast itself. A mere 15