Together with beverage bottler Coca-Cola FEMSA, Alpla is building a new recycling plant in Mexico. A high-tech plant is to be built in the state of Tabasco that will be able to recycle more than 50,000 tonnes of used PET bottles every year.
For Alpla After the IMER recycling plant, PLANETA is another project in Mexico with which the Austrian plastics company from Hard is following its maxim: „Giving things a value.“ Meaning here: The plants remunerate collectors for handing in recyclable plastic waste - The basis for active waste recycling where there would otherwise be no disposal. With this commitment and investments of 50 million euros per year until 2025 for its own processing plants, the company is setting pioneering standards in global recycling. The 18 collection points that have already been put into operation at the PLANETA plant have already been used to recycle 15,000 tonnes of used PET collected, 4,000 tonnes for the planned start of the plant in July 2024, the rest was processed by IMER and other recycling companies in Mexico.
The annual production capacity of the new factory will be 35,000 tonnes of recycled material, obtained from over 50,000 tonnes of disposed PET, which equates to around 1.6 billion recycled 1.5 litre plastic bottles - fewer of which end up in landfill or in nature every year.
In contrast to the IMER recycling plant, where the drop-off points are located in urban centres with good connections, the The PLANETA plant in south-east Mexico also supplies structurally weak regions. This supports rural material suppliers in particular, who can already deliver small quantities of 20 to 50 kilograms in this way.
In addition, each of the 18 collection centres has two pick-up trucks and trailers, which are used to collect the recyclables from collectors in remote areas. When fully utilised, the recycling plant generates around 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, This is an important driver for sustainability and economic development. With around 30 to 35 kilos, i.e. around 1000 PET bottles, the collectors earn an income equivalent to the minimum wage, depending on the current purchase price.
The motto „Giving things a value“ also leads to the following in Tabasco More employment, circular economy and environmental protection. In line with the „New Plastics Economy Global Commitment“, which Alpla and Coca-Cola FEMSA joined back in 2018. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation initiative, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, has set a target of 100% of products being reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. At the same time, the proportion of recycled materials in the total material input is to increase to 25 per cent. The plants in Mexico will contribute to this.
Source: Alpla
