Located in Toluca, the new facility has been developed to produce 15,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE per annum
ALPLA celebrated the inauguration of its new state-of-the-art recycling plant in Toluca, Mexico. (Credit: ALPLA Group)
Austrian packaging solutions and recycling specialist Alpla Group has opened a new high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic recycling in Mexico.
Located in Toluca, the new facility has been developed to produce 15,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE per annum.
From the second half of next year, the company intends to double the plant’s annual regrind material production capacity to 30,000 tonnes.
The new HDPE recycling facility, which will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alpla, has created up to 70 new jobs.
At present, the company will use the facility to produce 15,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE (rHDPE) in pellet form per annum.
The regranulate manufactured at the facility is primarily used to produce non-food packaging such as personal care products and household cleaning agents.
Alpla Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean regional manager Carlos Torres said: “We are seeing increasing momentum in the recycling market, taking one step forward in our commitment to sustainability, and the demand from our customers in the region for post-consumer recycled materials is rising.
“This is enabling us to already initiate an increase in our production of rHDPE in Toluca.”
The company has been engaged in the recycling of post-consumer PET in Mexico since many years.
In 2005, Alpla opened Latin America’s first bottle-to-bottle recycling plant called Industria Mexicana de Reciclaje (IMER).
IMER, a joint venture (JV) is established by Alpla México, Coca-Cola México and Coca-Cola Femsa. The partners have created the infrastructure to collect and recycle used PET beverage bottles.
The JV is said to produce nearly 15,000 tonnes of food-grade flakes from post-consumer PET per annum.
Earlier this year, Alpla announced plans to invest an average of €50m per year until 2025 in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities.
In September this year, Alpla, Ecohelp and United Polymer Trading announced the construction of a new recycling facility in Romania.