From 2025, ALPLA will produce up to 35,000 tonnes of mechanically recycled rPET flakes and food-safe rPET pellets annually in South Africa. The international packaging and recycling specialist has just opened the state-of-the-art plant, which is located on a 90,000-square-metre site in the coastal town of Ballito, after a construction period of around 18 months. With an investment of 60 million euros, ALPLA is setting the course for further growth in South Africa and providing an economic boost to the densely populated province of KwaZulu-Natal and the iLembe district.
At the opening ceremony on 31 October, ALPLA Chairman Günther Lehner, together with Dietmar Marin, Managing Director of ALPLArecycling, and Plant Manager Gerhard Meyringer, welcomed around 180 guests from the worlds of business and politics including representatives from the South African Ministries of Trade, Industry and Competition and Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, representatives from the province of KwaZulu-Natal, the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the iLembe District Municipality, as well as Austria's Ambassador Romana Königsbrun.