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Packaging and recycling specialist Alpla Group has announced a €60m investment in building a PET recycling plant in the South African town of Ballito. The plant is expected to recycle around 60,000 tonnes of PET bottles per year, with 35,000 tonnes of mechanically recycled rPET flakes and pellets to be produced from them. Alpla plans to process the majority of this to produce its own bottles. Marking the company’s entry into the South African recycling market, construction will start this summer with completion set for autumn 2024. The Alpla Group opened its new headquarters in Lanseria near Johannesburg in autumn last year. The plant will be built on a 90,000-square-metre site in Ballito, near Durban in the province of KwaZulu Natal. It is expected to increase the annual production capacity of all ALPLA recycling companies and cooperations to around 238,000 tonnes for rPET (recycled PET) and 74,000 tonnes for rHDPE (recycled HDPE). Alpla CEO Philipp Lehner commented: “Our goal is a bottle-to-bottle cycle at the location of our activities. In this way, as a recycler and producer, we can secure the supply of safe, affordable and sustainable packaging worldwide and at the same time promote awareness of the recyclable material.” For the realisation of the plant, Alpla is partnering with local stakeholders including PETCO (Producer Responsibility Organisation). The plant plans to employ around 100 people and is expected to generate more than 10,000 indirect jobs in the coming years. Dietmar Marin, managing director of the recycling division at Alpla said: “By setting up the first recycling resources of our own in Africa, we are equipping ourselves for the future, making a contribution to increasing the collection rate and reducing waste by recycling valuable raw materials. At the same time, we are creating many new jobs locally.”