Reks’ (Ferizaj / Kosovo) recycling plant in Kosovo is now in operation. The first quantities of rLDPE and rLLDPE resin were produced in July 2019, said Kivo (Volendam / The Netherlands; www.kivo.nl), which had founded Reks as a joint venture with Kivo Kosovo (Kaçanik / Kosovo) and Kras Recycling (Volendam; www.kras-recycling.com).

Reks recycles post-industrial waste collected through partners at various companies. After China’s role as a major importer of plastics waste largely ended – see Plasteurope.com of 20.04.2018 – demand for recycling increased, says Kivo. “Today a small part still goes to destinations in Asia,” says Ben Kras, director of Kras Recycling. “The larger part now goes to the incinerators in Europe.” He says by creating closed loops, the company's recycling could lead to local job creation as well as contribute to a more circular economy.

At the beginning of 2019, Kivo set up a recycling line not far from its headquarters in Volendam. The plant processes waste from the company’s in-house production of flexible films and incorporates the recycled materials – especially rLDPE, but also rHDPE – back into production. Theo Schilder, Kivo’s director of business development, says there remains ample capacity, so that the Volendam site could also process production waste from customers.

Kivo was founded in 1966 and manufactures PE bags. In 2012, the company opened another location in the Netherlands through its acquisition of Polaris in Zwolle. Three years later, Kivo Kosovo was founded, which is a joint venture with local partners focusing on extrusion, flexographic printing and converting. In March 2017, Kivo acquired a majority stake in German film manufacturer Frischmann Kunststoffe (Eisfeld; www.frischmann.de) and then sold it to the Scholle IPN group (Tilburg / The Netherlands; www.scholleipn.com) in January 2019.