TriPlast inaugurates Austria’s largest waste sorting plant to boost national circularity

02 Jul 2024 --- TriPlast, Europe’s “most modern” and Austria’s largest sorting plant for lightweight packaging, has opened after less than a year of construction and a several-month trial run. 

Facility owners ARA, Bernegger and GreenDot/Der Grüne Punkt hosted the inauguration together with Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler and Governor Thomas Stelzer.

The circular economy project in Ennshafen has a reported annual capacity of 100,000 tons of plastic and metal packaging and an investment of €65 million (US$69.7 million). TriPlast highlights that this means that 50% of all Austrian lightweight packaging can be sorted.

"Austria has set itself the goal of doubling the recycling of plastic packaging by 2025. TriPlast processes valuable materials for subsequent recycling and thus saves raw materials,” says Austria’s Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler.

“The new plant is therefore an important building block for the Austrian circular economy and also strengthens climate protection.”

Key facility features
The plant was equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including 2.5 km of conveyor belt, 160 km of cable, 2,250 tons of reinforcing steel, 38 near-infrared devices and three screening drums. 

“With a hall height of 25 meters, the new plant will be one of the highest in Europe, ensuring low space consumption and an efficient material flow,” says TriPlast’s managing director, Jürgen Secklehner. 

“TriPlast is also a secure employer in the area of ‘green jobs’ — we are currently looking for employees ranging from shift supervisors and fitters to electricians.”

Kurt Bernegger, managing director of Bernegger, emphasizes the central location: “The location at Ennshafen in Upper Austria allows trimodal connections by truck, rail and ship. The plant network at the site enables a self-sufficient supply of sustainable energy.”

“With our strategic partnership and the cross-border joint venture, we are preparing Austria and the EU for the recycling quotas from 2025. TriPlast can process an incredible 20 tons per hour and is three times the size of existing plants in Austria,” says ARA CEO Harald Hauke.

“We want to reduce Austria’s dependence on raw materials and provide the industry with high-quality raw materials.”

GreenDot, one of TriPlast’s owners, recently presented a host of solutions for plastic waste at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The plastic circularity advocacy group presented novel recyclates from a combination of mechanical and advanced recycling.