PET pellets from post-consumer drink bottles provided by PET Recycling Team, a subsidiary of ALPLA, has greenhouse gas emissions that are a tenth of the level for new material, confirmed in a recent investigation.
rPET Granulat /// rPET pellets
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Last year, PET Recycling Team in Wöllersdorf, Austria, obtained a measurement of the environmental impact of recycled PET (rPET) produced in-house. The calculated value was a carbon dioxide equivalent of 0.45 kg for every kilogram of material produced.
“By switching to electricity from renewable sources, we have again managed to reduce CO2 emissions by a considerable margin,” said Peter Fröschel, Plant Manager.
“Our annual production of rPET amounts to around 31,000 tonnes. It would take a mixed forest area the size of 6,231 football pitches to absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions we are saving each year compared to the production of new PET material.”
The greenhouse gas emissions for recycled material from Wöllersdorf are only a tenth as high as a new material, also known as virgin PET, has a carbon dioxide equivalent of 2.15 kg per kilogram.
Günther Lehner, CEO of Alpla, explained: “We have noticed greater demand for products made from recycled materials. In recent years, we have managed to move away from discussions that focus purely on cost, establishing sustainability as a core value.”
The environmental impact was calculated in accordance with ISO 14044, starting with the collection and sorting of used PET bottles and covering transportation to the Wöllersdorf plant, washing, processing and granulating.
The analysis is based on the electricity and gas consumption for 2016, which has remained constant since.
Lehner, added: “Our customers are committed to sustainability, and we support them with our expertise. We believe that recycling is appropriate and important not just for legal reasons: it is an economic sector of great significance for the environment and the future of our industry.”
In total, 65,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET is produced from post-consumer material across ALPLAs three plants each year.
