ALPLA awarded the JBCC contract to Abbeydale and maintained the professional team of the same companies that successfully delivered in many areas during the construction of its plastic packaging converting facility in Lanseria, Johannesburg (see PPM’s October 2022 issue).
Abbeydale has confirmed the necessary timeline to ensure that the installation of the first phase of recycling equipment coming from Europe can begin in Q2/2024. The overall timeline consequently stays unchanged with qualification trials expected in Q4/2024 and the start of production in Q1/2025.
The plant, which will be built on a 90 000m2 site, will recycle 60 000 tons/year of PET bottles to produce 35 000 tons/year of recycled PET (rPET) flakes and pellets. Most of this recycled material will be processed by ALPLA to produce new bottles for its use.
‘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,’ comments CEO Philipp Lehner.
Mike Resnicek, Africa, Middle East and Turkey finance and commercial director and PETCO board member, adds: ‘Together with the producer responsibility organisation PETCO, which identified KwaZulu-Natal as an opportunity for enterprise development, and other key stakeholders, ALPLA has been supporting the development of the collection value chain, the sensitisation of society and the avoidance of landfills for years.’
In addition, for the realisation of the plant, ALPLA has jointly approached the investment with a local partner. ‘Local know-how combined with a sound understanding of the cultural and economic landscape is key for such a large-scale project,’ Mike emphasises.
‘We are also excited to be creating around 100 new local jobs once the Ballito plant is operational,’ says ALPLA Recycling SA MD Gerhard Meyringer. ‘Additionally, the development of the KZN collection system is expected to generate more than 10 000 indirect regional jobs in the future.’
