PET bottle and preform manufacturer Resilux (Wetteren / Belgium; www.resilux.com) said sales in fiscal 2020 declined almost 10% to around EUR 374m due to low feedstock prices and decreased sales volumes, but EBITDA increased more than 17% year-on-year to EUR 51.1m and earnings rose 38% to just under EUR 23m.

Resilux declined to make a forecast for 2021. However, the company says it is confident the pandemic can be brought under control, after which markets will return to normal. Despite the crisis, the company said it plans investments of EUR 23m, with the money to be spent primarily on expanding PET recycling capacity.

At Resilux subsidiary PolyRecycling (Bilten / Switzerland; www.polyrecycling.com), a new bottle-to-bottle recycling line made by Austria’s Erema (Ansfelden; www.erema.at) is set to double the plant’s capacity. According to media reports, the site’s available output will increase to 65,000 t/y of PET recyclate once the “Vacunite” line is commissioned at the end of 2021. Two years ago, Resilux invested in an additional recycling plant in Bilten for producing food-grade PET recyclate (see Plasteurope.com of 25.04.2019).