PE producer DAK Americas (Charlotte, North Carolina / USA; www.dakamericas.com) has acquired Argentine PET bottle recycler CabelmaPET (Buenos Aires; www.cabelmapet.com.ar). Terms and conditions of the acquisition, which remains subject to review by Argentina’s antitrust authorities, were not disclosed. Plastic crate manufacturer Cabelma SA is not included in the deal.

CabelmaPET’s operation in Pacheco produces food-grade recycled raw materials from more than 16,000 t/y of waste PET bottles. DAK Americas Argentina, which produces more than 190,000 t/y of virgin PET resin in Zarate, plans to integrate the recyclate from Pacheco into its own manufacturing process upon completion of an upgrade.

Hector Camberos, president of DAK Americas Argentina, commented: “The acquisition not only has tremendous impact in terms of product sustainability, but it will greatly improve our trade balance, allowing us to substitute imports by establishing a raw material stream directly from within Argentina.”

The new integrated offering will be marketed under DAK’s “Laser+” brand of PET resin as a single-pellet solution with specified recyclate content. This, said DAK, is expected to benefit customers in the bottling and packaging industries as it will eliminate the need for them to establish duplicate feed and blending processes to take recycled materials into their respective product lines.