Alpla and Werner & Mertz have been working as partners for many years on the production of recyclable bottles for Werner & Mertz products. Material from household collection such as the Yellow Bag is used.
Werner & Mertz has been committed to climate and environmental protection for many years. Because packaging is just as important as nature-based, environmentally friendly products and their production, the company works closely with platform member Alpla together. From the very beginning, the focus was on transparent PET bottles. Together, the family businesses are processing more and more Used plastic from household collections such as the Yellow Bag and are thus coming ever closer to realising the vision of a regional plastics circular economy. Since 2016, the HDPE bottles of the emsal and Green Care Professional brands have been made from 100 per cent PCR from the Yellow Bag source.
The raw material for the brand's PET bottles Thanks to improved sorting and recycling processes, Frosch now consists of 75 per cent material, which was obtained from the Yellow Bag, i.e. from former waste. The remaining 25 per cent comes from the European beverage bottle collection (deposit return system, bottle-to-bottle). Since its launch, more than 15 million units have been produced. Since autumn 2023, red rHDPE, obtained from the Yellow Bag, has been used for the first time in the Rorax brand pipe cleaner - and 50 percent of it is already being used. Around 230,000 bottles are already in circulation.
Alplarecycling, Alpla's recycling brand, sorts used HDPE into the „mono colours“ natural, white, yellow, blue, green and red in its state-of-the-art recycling plants. The Separation into individual colour streams via an additional fine sorting step enables the recycling of coloured plastic - red, for example.
„Usually, white and transparent flakes are sorted out and the coloured residue is processed into a grey residual material. This in turn is often only suitable for lower-quality applications. With our cooperation, we are giving the variety of colours in the yellow bag a value and protecting it from downcycling.“
Michael Heyde, Head of Technology at Alplarecycling
„With the red material we gain another colour from the recyclable material stream and keep it in the high-quality cycle. Together with Alpla we are successfully advancing the technological development of used plastic from the Yellow Bag,“ says Alexander Schau, Head of Packaging Development at Werner & Mertz.
„With our cooperation, we are giving value to the variety of colours in the Yellow Bag and protecting them from downcycling.“
Michael Heyde, Head of Technology at AlplaRecycling
By the end of 2025, all packaging in the range from Werner & Mertz are fully recyclable and made from 100 per cent PCR material. exist. Alpla plays an important role as an in-house partner and material supplier. „As an owner-managed family business, we have in common that we can focus on long-term initiatives independent of shareholder value and quarterly reports and thus promote a holistic, sustainable circular economy,“ emphasises Reinhard Schneider, owner and CEO of Werner & Mertz and winner of the German Environmental Award.
Since 2019, Alpla has been producing the climate- and environmentally friendly PET packaging right next to the bottling without additional transport routes and secondary packaging. This is ensured by 77 conveyor belts on five lines. The in-house plant in Mainz is only an hour's drive from the PET preform production facility in Kaiserslautern. The recycling material is supplied by Alplarecycling from the plant in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. With the latest sorting systems and digital support, the mechanical recycling process is raised to a new level there.
„This is a real pioneering partnership with benefits for both sides. Without Werner & Mertz, we wouldn't be where we are today. They want to get the maximum out of it and remain true to their line, despite marketing fads and the higher prices for recycled materials. The clear commitment to sustainability gives us security. This allows us to expand the limits of what is technologically feasible together, step by step.“
Mario Peterlin, Sales Manager for Western Europe and Key Account Manager for Werner & Mertz at Alpla
Source: Alpla
