PET preform injection moulder Société Générale des Techniques (SGT, Rezé, France; www.sgt-pet.com) plans to create new capacity for the production of PET recyclate at its main plant in Rezé near Nantes. Work is scheduled to start in December 2023, with commissioning of the new recovery plant, which is set to have a capacity of 14,000 t/y of recyclate, planned for the second quarter of 2024.

SGT operates a preform production facility in Rezé; PET recycling has so far been carried out exclusively in Chalons-sur-Saône, 650 km away in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, where SGT currently has a recycling capacity of 12,000 t/y. “With the new site, we will reduce our CO₂ emissions by reducing truck traffic between Chalons-sur-Saone and Rezé,” said SGT CEO Frédéric Mignot. 

With the investment, the amount of which SGT did not disclose, the company says it is also reacting to the upcoming EU requirements for a minimum recyclate content in PET bottles.

SGT produces about 7 bn of preforms per year in a total of five plants – three of them in Algeria – with a staff of 500, as well as additional bottle closures made of HDPE. The volume of PET processed is now estimated at around 210,000 t/y. Turnover was recently estimated at EUR 400 mn.