The American unit of German waste disposal service provider PreZero (Porta Westfalica; www.prezero.com) said it has acquired US-based Roplast Industries (Oroville, California; www.roplast.com), a sustainable polyethylene film and bag manufacturer. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. PreZero is the environmental division of German retailing giant Schwarz Group, which owns the Kaufland and Lidl chains, the latter of which is also active in America.

“PreZero and Roplast come together just as California’s SB270 legislation will be requiring more recycled content in bags and film (see Plasteurope.com of 04.05.2020),” the German company said in a statement. Current processing capacity of Roplast is 30m pounds (13,600 t) per year. The film and bags are sold across the US in a variety of markets.

Hernan de la Vega, CEO of PreZero US, said the move allows the company to “close the loop” with its customers. “The film and bags they buy from Roplast can be collected and processed at the material end of life by PreZero’s state-of-the-art facilities. Then we can supply the same quality products back to our original customers. Thus, creating a true circular economy.”

The recycler said that within 24 months of the acquisition, the goal is to supply up to 15m pounds (6,800 t) of LDPE per year in the form of post-consumer recyclate content for film and bags. PreZero recently announced plans for its first sale of products with reclaimed materials in Germany through the Lidl and Kaufland chains (see Plasteurope.com of 26.02.2021)

The company, which entered the US market in 2018, said that in 2020 it announced USD 100m (EUR 83.7m) in investments in plastics recycling facilities on both coasts for plants now in operation in Jurupa Valley, California and Westminster, South Carolina. The facilities are said to process film and mixed rigid plastic bales into LDPE, polypropylene and HDPE resin, with total planned annual capacity estimated at more than 160m pounds/y (72,500 t/y).