Alpla issues sustainability report

Austria-based packaging producer and recycler Alpla has issued its fourth sustainability report, which indicates the company’s own recycling plants around the world (some of them joint ventures) take in nearly 300,000 metric tons of plastic scrap annually.

In its section on circular economy efforts, Alpla says championing closed loops and greater awareness of plastic as a recyclable material have “been an important part of Alpla’s sustainability strategy for many years.”

The firm says polyethylene terephthalate (PET) regrind material from its plants in Austria and Poland causes up to 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with using virgin material. “With input of around 206,000 metric tons of PET and approximately 88,000 metric tons of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), Alpla’s own recycling plants and joint ventures around the world are, in total, contributing significantly to the use of recycled plastics in production,” states the company.

Alpla also says it is using “cutting-edge technologies” to increase the proportion of electricity from renewable sources it uses. “Globally speaking, we were already covering 28 percent of our electrical energy consumption with electricity from renewable sources in 2020, compared with 18 percent in 2019,” says Martin Stark, Alpla’s director of corporate plant engineering.

Alpla CEO Philipp Lehner says, “I believe that Alpla as a company has a responsibility towards society to guarantee secure, affordable and sustainable supplies for the global population in the future, too. At the same time, with a carbon footprint which is usually lower than that of alternative packaging solutions, plastic makes an important contribution to climate protection.”

The company has been active on the recycling front beyond Europe, having recently invested in Mexico and South Africa. “We are anticipating strong growth in the AMET region in particular, specifically in Africa,” says Christoph Hoffmann, the company’s director of corporate strategy, sustainability and circular economy. “The task at hand is to now implement the recycling and waste management solutions which have been in place in Europe for some time in these regions, too.”

The full 2020 Alpla sustainability report can be viewed on this web page.