German waste disposal firm PreZero (Neckarsulm; www.prezero.com), a unit of compatriot retail giant Schwarz Group, has launched a domestic sorting plant for lightweight packaging in Eitting.

The company said it has invested around EUR 40 mn in the 120,000 t/y plant, which runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The commissioning brings capacity at PreZero’s sites in Germany to around 600,000 t/y, making it what the recycler called the “absolute” frontrunner in the lightweight packaging market segment.

The company said the plant features the following: black scans that identify black plastics, sorting robots to support staff in quality control and re-sorting, the latest detection technology, and innovative separating units.

Materials are sorted into 18 different fractions, including by type of plastic, and they can also be separated according to colour. The site, located northeast of Munich, is also expected to supply recyclers in Austria and Italy with material that has been processed according to type and thus can be used for subsequent production.

The Schwarz Group announced in December 2021 that by 2025, it plans to use at least 25% recycled materials in the own-brand packaging of its retail chains Lidl and Kaufland (see Plasteurope.com of 01.12.2021).