NEWS


Borealis to acquire second plastics recycler


Polyolefins major Borealis is adding to its plastics recycling business with the acquisi- tion of Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling. Borealis bought MTM Plastics in 2016. Ecoplast, based in Wildon, Austria,


processes around 35,000 tpa of post-con- sumer plastic waste from households and industrial consumers. It supplies recycled LDPE and HDPE pellets primarily to the plas- tic film market. Borealis Chief Executive Alfred


Stern said: “It is a logical next step for us to expand our mechanical recy- cling capabilities, which are key to our sustainability and circular economy efforts. Borealis wants to be a provider for circular economy plastic solutions and we see Ecoplast as an important comple- ment to MTM in Germany. MTM’s focus is on rigid, injection moulding solutions. Ecoplast’s core competence is recycling flexibles from highly contami- nated household and commer- cial waste into a product that is suitable for thin film production.”


Diversity at Erema


Presentations made at an event held by Erema at its facility in Ansfelden, Austria, in June covered a wide range of subjects. The Linz Institute of Technology presented a public 4.0 pilot facility, while another discussion looked at the interplay between the circular economy and raw material producers. Erema also held machinery demon- strations at the event. � www.erema.com


4 In June, Borealis started a €15m invest-


ment project at MTM in Germany. The investment will increase MTM’s overall input processing capacity from 60,000 to 80,000 tpa and partly will be targeted at expanding existing equipment. “Besides the capacity increase, the investment aims at improving the capability to address the needs of the high-end market of re-granulates,” said Borealis.


“We need stepwise expansion


projects to minimise down time, but also need to maintain existing facilities and business,” said Stern. An additional €2.5m will be invested this year in environmental protection and capacity expansion of MTM Compact, a sister company in Fürstenwalde. � www.borealisgroup.com � www.ecoplast.com


Henkel’s Pattex glue uses rPE for the bottle and rPP for all three parts of its applicator nozzle; Purpolen regranulate was supplied by Borealis subsidiary MTM Plastics


Total joins PS partners


in France A polystyrene recycling project has been started in France, involving polymer producer Total, processor Saint-Gobain, recycler Citeo and the French Union of Fresh Dairy Product Manufac- turers (Syndifrais). The project will test the industrial-scale potential for PS recycling. It involves separation and sorting post-consumer PS from France’s extended household waste sorting program. Total will use the material in its produc- tion units in Carling, France and Feluy, Belgium. The project has a target of 4,000 t of output containing at least 20% recycled PS to start in 2019. � www.citeo.com � www.total.com


PET recycling capacity stays idle


A study has shown 200,000 tonnes of installed rPET capacity in Europe was unused in 2017, according to industry organisation Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE).


It said 78 PET recycling facilities located all over Europe were evaluated. The results indicate a PET recycling capacity of 2.1 million tonnes in Europe for 2017. The major countries were Germany (27% of capacity), France (15%), Italy (14%) and Spain (9%), which together account for 65% of


PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2018


the PET recycling market. PRE said that in 2017, 1.9m tonnes of PET waste was transformed into 1.4m tonnes of recyclates which were used for the produc- tion of new articles. “Accord- ing to this data, 200,000 tonnes of PET installed capacity remains unexploit- ed,” it said. The trade body warned


that waste PET collection rate needs to increase to meet EU target of recycling 55% of plastic packaging by 2030. Casper van den Dungen,


PRE Vice President and PET Working Group Chairman, said: “There is a strong will from PET recyclers to increase the output of recycled material, but currently we are struggling to find enough good quality input waste.” Limited collection has always been a drawback but trust should be built in the sector in order to secure investments, he said. An average of 57% of


PET bottles are currently recycled in Europe, accord- ing to PRE. � www.plasticsrecyclers.eu


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


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