2020 was a difficult economic year - especially for the recycling industry. The pandemic and associated lockdowns were particularly demanding as a critical infrastructure. And heavily reduced sales, due to an extremely low oil price or the very low price level for new goods, are still causing problems for the industry. “Despite these great challenges, PET to PET managed to keep production operations going almost continuously and even achieved a new record result. We are very proud of that ", explains PET to PET managing director Christian Strasser and explains the reasons:" There are primarily three points responsible for this: Firstly, thanks to a detailed pandemic plan that is precisely tailored to production - incl.extremely strict hygiene measures and COVID-19 rapid tests - enable employees to work safely according to the circumstances. Second, the Austrian beverage industry continues to play a pioneering role when it comes to the use of recyclates in new PET containers; that benefits our sales. And thirdly, we are constantly improving ourselves through consistent process optimization and the expansion of our systems in terms of the circular economy.
Investments increase productivity and generate jobs
In the past year, the manipulation areas were greatly enlarged in compliance with the highest safety standards in terms of fire protection. The outdoor storage area was increased by around a third (+ 13,500 m2), the covered storage area by around half thanks to the new warehouse (+ 2,200 m2) expanded. To increase the production capacity, a second granulation plant was built, which can produce around two tons of food-grade PET recyclate per hour. In addition, a new silo was put into operation in the area of recyclate filling. “The investments we have made not only ensure the seamless and resource-saving recycling of PET bottles in Austria. Thanks to the construction of our new production facility, eight additional jobs could also be created, ”says Strasser happily.
The circular economy will be expanded further in 2021
Further investments are on the agenda for the current year. On the one hand, one would like to implement an improved separation of the bottle labels within the production plant and thus further increase the quality. On the other hand, the construction of a new, high-performance loading station for silo vehicles is planned. “We look to the future positively and ask the population to continue to dispose of all used PET bottles in the correct container. In this way, we can keep the extremely high-quality packaging material PET in circulation for as long as possible and conserve valuable resources. Every contribution or every PET bottle counts. In any case, we are prepared for this and plan to be able to increase our total throughput by around 20% with the operation of the newly built granulation plant, ”concluded Strasser.
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* The projects mentioned were supported by the funding agency of the Province of Burgenland and co-financed with funds from the European Regional Development Fund. For more information on IWB / ERDF, see www.efre.gv.at .
