Packaging and recycling specialist ALPLA is investing €60-million in a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling facility, in Ballito, in KwaZulu-Natal.

The plant, with an output of 35 000 t/y of recycled PET (rPET) material, will mark the company’s entry into the African recycling market. Construction will start later this year and will be completed in 2024.

The plant, which will be built on a 90 000 m² site, will recycle 60 000 t/y of PET bottles to produce 35 000 t/y of rPET flakes and pellets. The majority of the recycled material will be processed by ALPLA to produce new bottles for its use.

"Our goal is a bottle-to-bottle cycle at the location of our activities. In this way, as a recycler and producer, we can secure the supply of safe, affordable and sustainable packaging worldwide and, at the same time, promote awareness of the recyclable material," says ALPLA CEO Philipp Lehner. 

ALPLA states that demand for recycled materials is growing worldwide and in South Africa, where there is also an increase in waste collection systems.

"Together with the producer responsibility organisation Petco, which identified KwaZulu-Natal as an opportunity for enterprise development, and other key stakeholders, ALPLA has been supporting the development of the collection value chain, the sensitisation of society and the avoidance of landfills for years," says ALPLA Africa, Middle East and Turkey finance and commercial director and Petco board member Mike Resnicek.

"This investment in a further bottle-to-bottle plant in South Africa, and particularly with a local partner, is welcome news. We need additional offtake for the growing number of post-consumer bottles that we are unlocking nationally, and this also complements our transformation strategy," Petco CEO Cheri Scholtz adds.

The recycling plant will employ about 100 people once in operation. Indirect employment throughout the value chain is estimated to reach 10 000 in the years ahead.