Alpla wins carbon-zero recycled PET race with green electricity and carbon offsetting

14 Oct 2020 --- Alpla Group is laying claim to the world’s first carbon-neutral recycled PET (rPET). The global manufacturer of plastic packaging switched its PET Recycling Team plants in Wöllersdorf, Austria, and Radomsko, Poland, to electricity from renewable sources to produce the carbon-neutral rPET.

“This step has already had a big impact on the carbon footprint of our food-grade regranulate – according to the calculations, emissions are cut by up to 90 percent compared with virgin material,” explains Georg Lässer, Alpla’s head of recycling.

“The remaining unavoidable emissions (approximately 10 percent) are offset,” he tells PackagingInsights. “Emissions have been reduced as much as possible, but we cannot ‘control’ some factors, for example, the collection of post-consumer material or the transport of our input material.”

Demand for rPET is on the rise, with the European Council recently approving a plastic tax starting January 1, 2021, as part of its latest agreement on the new Multiannual Financial Framework and coronavirus recovery fund.

The plan foresees a €0.80/kg levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste, paid by Member States into the EU budget.

Major brands are transitioning to rPET. In September, Coca-Cola in Western Europe announced transitions to 100 percent rPET in the Netherlands and Norway for iconic brands Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta. Coca-Cola Sweden transitioned to 100 percent rPET in Q1 2020.Alpla switched its PET Recycling Team plants in Austria and Poland to electricity from renewable sources.

“Our customers are very interested in recycled rPET that has minimal impact on the climate,” Lässer highlights. “The market feedback has been very good.”

Carbon neutral certificates
The company is offering its customers carbon-neutral rPET based on the purchase of certificates. The remaining “unavoidable” emissions from material delivery to the plants are offset with carbon certificates.

Alpla selected specific projects in cooperation with the climate neutrality alliance Klimaneutralitätsbündnis 2025 and the NGO Helioz.

In China, Alpla is replacing traditional coal-fired stoves with ovens run on biomass. Ovens run on biomass vastly reduce emissions and prevent the health implications caused by harmful exhaust air.

Moreover, Alpla supports a reforestation project in Nicaragua, while in Ethiopia, it is financing 5,000 household initiatives, including access to modern stoves, vegetable seeds, seedlings and training.

In other Asian and African regions, the company is supporting the Helios organization, providing solar devices that monitor water disinfection using PET bottles.

A climate change solution
Plastic packaging containing a high proportion of recycled material has less climate impact than virgin plastic based on life cycle assessments.

Georg Lässer, head of recycling at Alpla.With the world’s first carbon-neutral rPET, Alpla is helping customers achieve their sustainability goals. “We are demonstrating that close collaboration between packaging developers, packaging manufacturers and recycling experts can lead to solutions which set an example for the industry as a whole,” Lässer says.

“The world’s first carbon-neutral regranulate can make a significant contribution to climate protection and highlight the value of used plastics.”

In December 2019, Alpla joined a new consortium for the chemical recycling of PET. The consortium is accelerating the commercialization of the enhanced recycling technology, BP Infinia, which turns opaque and difficult-to-recycle PET plastic waste into recycled feedstocks.

In November 2019, Alpla expanded into polyolefin recycling by acquiring two companies based in Spain.

With its PET recycling plants in Austria and Poland (PET Recycling Team) and joint ventures in Mexico and Germany, Alpla boasts an annual recycled plastics capacity of over 70,000 metric tons.

In July, Alpla teamed with KHS to develop an ultra-light, 1 L returnable PET container. Under KHS’ “Reduce, reuse, recycle” philosophy, the filling and packaging systems specialist focused on weight reduction and optimizing the container’s base and neck to achieve a weight of just 55 g. The container also boasts 35 percent recyclate content and is fully recyclable.

By Joshua Poole, with additional reporting from Anni Schleicher