The global packaging solutions and recycling specialist, the Alpla Group, is acquiring BTB PET-Recycling based in Bad Salzuflen (Germany). The company turns PET bottles into recycled material which is then predominantly used for the production of new beverage bottles. Its bottle-to-bottle packaging cycle is a closed loop.

In acquiring BTB PET-Recycling, Alpla is investing in further developing the region’s recycling loop. The company processes used PET beverage bottles sourced from Germany’s reverse vending system and turns them into food-grade rPET pellets which are then primarily used for the manufacture of new preforms for PET bottles, including beverage bottles.

“BTB produces highly efficiently, using established technology. The team in Bad Salzuflen is highly motivated and does a fantastic job. For us, buying this company is an investment in the future, enabling us to increase the existing capacities and further strengthen the bottle-to-bottle loop”, Georg Lässer, Head of Corporate Recycling at Alpla, commented on what led to the acquisition.

“By acquiring BTB, we are investing in a very structured company which has been operating successfully within the local circular economy for years and which is already supplying our preform business in Germany with rPET. What’s pivotal here is a functioning system comprising a bottle return infrastructure, bottle production and bottling companies in the direct vicinity of the recycling plant”, Georg Pescher, Managing Director of Alpla in Germany, added.

Recently, Alpla and its partners announced the founding of the joint venture PET Recycling Team Targu Mures for the recycling of post-consumer PET bottles in Romania. The target is annual production of 15,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET to strengthen the local materials cycle in Central and South-Eastern Europe. In the United Kingdom, Alpla has been cooperating with the British waste management company Biffa since this year and sources food-grade rPET pellets from the Biffa recycling plant in Seaham. With this collaboration, Alpla is increasing the proportion of British recyclate used to manufacture packaging in the UK.

In early 2021, the Alpla Group announced that it would invest an average of 50 million euros a year until 2025 in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities. In particular, it plans to globalise its activities in the area of high-quality recyclates in order to close the materials cycle in as many regions as possible. In all, the annual capacity of the Alpla recycling companies, joint ventures and partnerships amounts to approximately 130,000 tonnes of PET and 60,000 tonnes of PE.