The ALPLA Group acquires BTB PET-Recycling, based in Bad Salzuflen. The company utilises used PET bottles to produce recycled material, which is primarily used to produce new beverage bottles. The packaging cycle takes place within a closed system from bottle to bottle.
With the acquisition of BTB PET-Recycling GmbH & Co. KG from Bad Salzuflen in North Rhine-Westphalia, the company is investing ALPLA in the expansion of the recycling cycle in the region. The company processes used PET drinks bottles from the German deposit return system into food-grade rPET (recycled PET) granulate, which is mainly used to produce new preforms for PET bottles, including drinks bottles.
The abbreviation BTB stands for "Bottle-to-Bottle" and thus for a closed packaging cycle from bottles to bottles that are collected in the region. In the first step, the incoming material is pre-sorted, shredded, washed and re-sorted at BTB.
It is then melted in an extrusion process, moulded into pellets and upgraded to food-grade rPET. The processing volume is around 20,000 tonnes of PET bottles per year. The company employs around 35 people, all of whom are taken on by ALPLA.
Just recently, ALPLA and its partners announced the establishment of the joint venture "PET Recycling Team Targu Mures" for the recycling of post-consumer PET bottles in Romania. The aim is to produce 15,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET annually to strengthen the local material cycle in Central and South-Eastern Europe. In the UK, ALPLA has been cooperating with the British waste management company Biffa since this year, sourcing food-grade rPET granulate from the Biffa recycling plant in Seaham. Through this collaboration, ALPLA is increasing the proportion of British recyclate used in the production of packaging in the UK.
