Austrian packaging manufacturer and recycling specialist Alpla (Hard; www.alpla.com) is investing around EUR 8 mn in the expansion of the PET Recycling Team (PRT) recycling plant in Radomsko, Poland.

The third extrusion line is to increase the annual production capacity at the site, which was opened 10 years ago, from 30,000 t/y to 54,000 t/y of food-grade PET recyclate at the end of 2024. This is set to make PRT one of the largest recycling plants of its kind in Europe, according to information from Austria.

The new extrusion plant for mechanical recycling in Radomsko creates 12 additional jobs and expands the team to more than 100 employees.

“With this investment we are targeting the Polish market in particular,” says Beata Szynkiewicz-Razik, commercial director of PRT Radomsko. From 2025 onwards, all PET beverage bottles in the EU are to contain at least 25% post-consumer recycled (PCR) material.

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Alpla says it invests around EUR 50 mn annually in the global expansion of its recycling activities. In June 2023, the Austrian group announced the construction of a recycling plant in South Africa.

The total annual production capacity of all recycling companies and cooperations is around 266,000 t/y for recycled PET and 74,000 t/y for HDPE recyclate.

In addition, Alpla produces packaging systems, bottles, closures, and other injection moulded parts with around 23,300 employees at 190 sites in 45 countries worldwide; the most recent turnover was EUR 5.1 bn.