— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

As expansion opportunities for German recycler Thees Kunststoffverarbeitung (Dinklage; www.thees.com) are limited at its headquarters location in the long term, the company plans to acquire an additional site in the neighbouring town of Bakum.

The company is set to purchase a property owned by the former SL Recycling. The site covers an area of around 37,000 m² and has a 6,000 m² production hall, a 3,000 m² warehouse as well as office, staff, and technology facilities.

“We negotiated with the owners of SL Recycling in a spirit of partnership regarding the use of the property and a small part of the technical infrastructure, and we reached a mutual agreement”, said managing director Ansgar Thees-Ovelgönne.

Related: Polyolefins reclaim capacity growth stalls in Europe

According to Thees, the site already fulfils the requirements of a plastics recycler and offers enough space to efficiently organise and automate operations. By the end of 2025, Thees intends to install at least three recycling lines in Bakum and employ 10 to 15 people. The site is expected to focus primarily on the treatment of post-consumer waste, though the firm also recycles industrial waste.

Last year, the company, together with its sister firm Thees Mobile, processed around 50,000 t of plastics – in particular polyethylene and polypropylene, but also other standard and engineering plastics.

SL Recycling had started operations in Bakum at the beginning of 2021. Because of the challenging recycling market, however, it closed down at the end of 2023, according to an employee of sister firm Wela-Plast (Goldenstedt, Germany; www.wela-plast.de).

— Translated by Jon Relton