Smurfit Kappa partners to develop beverage carton recycling plant

Smurfit Kappa, Dublin, Ireland, has joined with Netherlands-based HVC and Bluemats Technology to unveil a plan for the first full beverage carton recycling plant in the Netherlands. According to a news release from Smurfit Kappa, the planned new facility will have the ability to quickly split and sort paper, plastic and aluminum components of drink cartons so materials can be used to create new products. Single-use coffee cups, which also have multilayered materials, are also included in the scope of the plan.

Over half the beverage cartons used in the Netherlands are incinerated or disposed of in general waste channels, with the remainder being exported to other countries for recycling. Smurfit Kappa reports that a new facility in the Netherlands would be beneficial from both an environmental and logistics perspective.

Smurfit Kappa offers long-term expertise in paper recycling installations to the project, which has been awarded a European LIFE grant. HVC offers sustainable waste collection experience to the project, and Bluemats will handle and separate plastics and aluminum. 

Henk Hoevers, vice president of paper technology at Smurfit Kappa, says, “We are excited about being involved in a project that has the potential to solve a very big challenge and potentially push the high recycling rate of paper even further than the current 85 percent. Together, our three companies plan a state-of-the-art installation that can deal with this specific multimaterial reject stream. Using all three separated streams of paper, plastic and aluminium for further recycling is unique. This plan is very much in line with the circularity that embeds all our operations and aligns with our Better Planet Packaging initiative which seeks to reduce packaging waste.”

Dennis Froeling, Business Developer with HVC, adds that, “At this time, multilayered cartons are being recycled elsewhere in Europe, mainly in Germany. We would like to ensure that the multilayered cartons that come from our sorting center in Heerenveen and from SUEZ in Rotterdam are being recycled in the Netherlands. By doing this we are connecting the entire chain from collection, to transport through to the sorting and processing of raw materials.”

According to Smurfit Kappa, plans for the new facility will be further developed ahead of a final decision in the next six months.