Situated near Durban, the Ballito plant will be constructed on a 90,000m² site with construction expected to start in the summer of 2023 and completion is planned for autumn next year
The plant will mark ALPLA’s entry into the African recycling market. (Credit: ALPLA Group)
Packaging and recycling company ALPLA has announced its plans to invest €60m in a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling plant in Ballito, in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal.
Situated near Durban, the Ballito plant will be constructed on a 90,000m² site. The construction is expected to start in the summer of 2023 and completion is planned for autumn next year.
The plant will mark ALPLA’s entry into the African recycling market and is said to be the first investment in a food-grade PET recycling facility in KwaZulu Natal province.
Initially, the plant will have an output of 35,000 tonnes of recycled PET material. In future, it will recycle around 60,000 tonnes of PET bottles annually to produce 35,000 tonnes of mechanically recycled rPET flakes and pellets.
The packaging firm said that it will use most of these materials to make its own bottles.
The Ballito site is expected to boost the annual production capacity of all ALPLA recycling companies and cooperations to around 238,000 tonnes for rPET (recycled PET) and 74,000 tonnes for rHDPE (recycled HDPE).
ALPLA CEO Philipp Lehner said: “Our goal is a bottle-to-bottle cycle at the location of our activities. In this way, as a recycler and producer, we can secure the supply of safe, affordable and sustainable packaging worldwide and at the same time promote awareness of the recyclable material.”
Additionally, ALPLA has jointly decided to approach the investment with a local partner for the realisation of the recycling plant.
The packaging firm anticipates that the facility will generate around 100 new employment options in future. The growth of the regional collection system is also expected to generate more than 10,000 indirect jobs in future.
In October last year, ALPLA opened its new headquarters in Lanseria near Johannesburg. Before this, the firm inaugurated its second production plant for PET preforms in Angola’s capital Luanda.
The internationally active firm is planning for further investment in South Africa in the upcoming years.
Recently, ALPLA supported Coca-Cola India to launch a new bottle made from 100% rPET in Andhra Pradesh, India for the Kinley brand.