Alpla, Ecohelp and UPT announce joint launch of PET recycling program in Romania

Three companies with different areas of expertise have formed a new joint venture to build a PET bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in Targu Mures, Romania
.

Alpla Group (Austria); Ecohelp SRL (Romania); United Polymer Trading AG (Switzerland) are investing on average to install one extrusion line to recycle post-consumer PET bottles at the Romanian partner's factory
.

PET recycling team Targu Mures JV aims to produce 15,000 tonnes of food-grade post-consumer rPET per year
.
The rPET pellets will then be used to make new preforms and bottles, aimed at strengthening the local material cycle in the Central and South-Eastern Europe region
.
The project, including the engineering of the plant and associated buildings and infrastructure, has an investment of approximately EUR 7.
5 million
.
The factory expansion will create 15 new jobs at the Targu Mures site
.

Preform and bottle manufacturer Alpla Group will provide recycling expertise
.
The base material - PET flakes - will be provided by Ecohelp
.
These will produce high-grade rPET pellets through an extrusion process
.
The third partner UPT is the co-owner of the rPET upcycling facility in Cumapol Emmen, the Netherlands, specializing in the trade of plastics and recycled materials
.

Alpla chairman Günther Lehner said the project is in line with Alpla's goal of establishing a bottle-to-bottle cycle in areas where waste collection and recycling still have potential
.
"By participating in this joint venture, we are taking a strategically important and sustainable step in this direction
.
"

The joint venture is subject to regulatory approval by competition authorities
.
The two parties signed a contract for it on September 9, 2021, and production is scheduled to start in mid-2022
.
The parties have agreed not to disclose any further details
.