ALPLA and Re-Purpose have formed a strategic partnership to improve local waste collection and supply ALPLA’s PET recycling facility in South Africa while creating new jobs for disadvantaged people in local areas.
ALPLA’s Ballito-based, state-of-the-art recycling plant was announced last year. It will receive a €60 million investment, with over 35,000 tonnes of rPET set to be produced there from the beginning of 2025.
Now ALPLA intends to combine its recycling expertise with Re-Purpose’s reverse logistics for post-consumer waste. Re-Purpose is based in Durban with four material recovery facilities around the KwaZulu-Natal province; it intends to develop and empower local communities and buy-back centres, creating ‘hundreds of jobs’ and income for disadvantaged people through source-oriented collection programmes.
The collaboration is set to expand job creation to neighbouring provinces and potentially throughout South Africa. The partners also hope to drive innovation and promote a circular economy.
Re-Purpose intends to provide its state-of-the-art machinery and baling expertise to develop collection models form the source, introducing collection programmes to buy-back centres, waste pickers, and schools. It expects to maximize the utilization of its current baling centres while setting up new ones to streamline the collection process for PET bottles.
ALPLA and Re-Purpose will also work together to build a strategic supplier base for PET bottle bales. They will collaborate with key stakeholders to expand community reach and separation at source programmes, intending to help ALPLA’s recycling plant operate at full capacity from 2026 by contributing to a monthly PET collection rate of 5,000 tons.
“We are thrilled to partner with Re-Purpose to accelerate our journey towards a more sustainable future,” says Dietmar Marin, managing director of the Recycling Division of ALPLA. “This collaboration allows us to expand our portfolio of packaging solutions made from recycled PET material, offering our customers in the region innovative alternatives that align with their sustainability goals.”
“We are excited to join forces with ALPLA to drive innovation and sustainability in the recycling industry,” adds Re-Purpose founder and managing director Bevlen Sudhu. “By combining ALPLA’s extensive recycling experience with our reverse collection model, we are expanding the circular economy and supporting manufacturers in achieving the required EPR targets.”
In related news, Hündgen Entsorgungs has entered a supply agreement to source, prepare, and supply Carbios’ industrial-scale bio-recycling plant with 15kt of post-consumer PET flakes every year from late 2026. The plant is based in Longlaville, France, and expects to reach an annual capacity of 50kt once it is fully operational.
Another agreement between Dow and Freepoint Eco-Systems is set to contribute to the former’s U.S. Gulf Coast operations with a yearly supply of around 65,000 metric tonnes of ‘certified-circular, plastic waste-derived’ pyrolysis oil.
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