Africa’s first bottle-to-bottle PET recycling plant has been opened in Wadeville, Johannesburg / South Africa by PET recycler Extrupet (Wadeville; www.extrupet.com). The 3,000 m² plant is equipped with recycling machinery supplied by Starlinger (Vienna / Austria; www.starlinger.com) and produces recycled resin suitable for food-contact PET packaging and the carbonated drink sector. Output is sold under the Extrupet brand name “PhoenixPET”.

Engineering solutions provider Starlinger said the plant is the first in South Africa to use Coca-Cola-approved technology to produce bottles for carbonated soft drinks. With a 1,800 kg/h production capacity, it will supply 14,000 t/y of rPET to the PET packaging industry in South Africa and neighbouring countries.

The plant was inaugurated on 11 May by Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa, with guests including Therese Gearhart, president of Coca-Cola Southern Africa, Extrupet’s joint managing director Chandru Wadhwani and representatives from national PET recycling association PETCO (Johannesburg / South Africa; www.petco.co.za). Wadhwani said the project was first conceived three years ago when the site’s existing capacity was approaching its limit. A key reason for selecting Starlinger was because the company had already set up plants that were supplying the Coca-Cola system around the world, he explained.

PETCO said in a statement that the ZAR 75m (EUR 5.4m) project will benefit the local PET supply chain and ensure the long-term viability of post-consumer PET recycling in South Africa. As a result of this project, an additional 22,000 t/y of post-consumer PET bottles will be diverted from landfills and income opportunities will be created in PET bottle collection for an estimated 15,000 people, it added.

The new PET recycling line, a “recoSTAR” PET 165 HC iV+, is designed for producing food grade recycled PET pellets according to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) standards.