Alpla adds to plastic recycling capacity in Germany

Austria-based packaging and recycling firm Alpla Group says it has become one of the largest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic recycling companies in Germany with its acquisition of PET recycler Texplast.

Alpla has acquired Texplast, which is based in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany, from the Switzerland-based Fromm Group. Alpla also has acquired all of Fromm Group’s shares in the joint venture PET Recycling Team Wolfen. With the acquisitions, Alpla “will increase its annual processing volume in Germany to 75,000 metric tons of PET bottles,” states the firm.

“Our goal is the cycle from bottle to bottle,” says Alpla Group CEO Philipp Lehner. “We are stepping up our activities worldwide to meet growing demand for post-consumer recyclate. This investment will strengthen our position in the German market and guarantee high quality and availability of the material for our customers.”

Texplast, founded in 1992, produces PET pellets and flakes from used PET bottles. The pellets are primarily used for preforms for new PET bottles. The multi-colored PET flakes produced during the process are used by packaging manufacturer Fromm to produce packing strap. However, the focus has increasingly shifted towards the bottle cycle in recent years, says Alpla.

“The long-term, and successful, collaboration with the Fromm Group was the perfect basis for this development,” says Georg Lässer, head of recycling at ALPLA. “The acquisition enabled us to increase our capacity quickly and efficiently. And this will also help us to secure production for both sides in the future.”

“We have a highly motivated, fully functional team and we are proud to welcome all 125 Texplast employees into the ALPLA family,” says Lässer. He adds that the multi-colored flakes will be supplied exclusively to Fromm in the future.

Remarks Rico Seiler, managing director of Texplast GmbH, “The change in ownership underlines the transformation of Texplast from a material supplier for plastic strapping to a key player in the bottle cycle. With the new owners, the company will be able to fulfil its potential in this field even more efficiently.”

PET Recycling Team Wolfen specializes in the recycling of PET bottles from “yellow bag” German household recyclables. These are returned from household collection to the recycling loop. The sorting and processing systems at Texplast’s site in Wolfen were set up in 2019.