Austria’s Alpla (Hard; www.alpla.com) has announced its acquisition of Spanish packaging manufacturer Plastisax (Sax; www.plastisax.com/en); financial details were not disclosed.

With almost 60 employees, Plastisax produces HDPE and PET bottles for the cosmetics, household, and personal care sectors. Marc de Voogd, Alpla’s GM for France and Iberia, said: “With this new location in Sax near Alicante and the already existing Alpla plants near Barcelona and Valencia, we are now optimally positioned along the Mediterranean coast.”

Alpla said it plans to increasingly manufacture products with a high proportion of post-consumer recycling material (PCR) at the new plant. In autumn 2019, Alpla took over two HDPE recycling companies near Barcelona and Valladolid (see Plasteurope.com of 08.11.2019). These firms supply production facilities in the region with PCR and are expected to contribute to strengthening the local bottle-to-bottle loop.

At the beginning of 2021, Alpla, which reported sales of EUR 3.69 bn in 2020, announced that it would invest an average of EUR 50m annually in the further expansion of recycling activities until 2025 (see Plasteurope.com of 24.02.2021). Above all, the company plans to internationalise the creation of high-quality recyclates to close recycling loops in as many regions as possible.

Just a few days ago, Alpla and two partners announced the construction of a recycling plant in Romania (see Plasteurope.com of 21.09.2021). Overall, the capacity of Alpla recycling companies and its joint ventures and partnerships is said to amount to around 130,000 t/y for PET and 60,000 t/y for PE.