In the first half of 2021, 14,000 t of recycled PET were reclaimed from used PET bottles by PET to PET Recycling Österreich (Müllendorf / Austria; www.pet2pet.at). After the total processed amount came to roughly 28,200 t of PET last year (see Plasteurope.com of 29.01.2021), General Manager Christian Strasser currently anticipates an increase. At present, three out of four PET beverage bottles in Austria are recycled by the company. “However, there is still room for improvement in the area of collection,” said Strasser.

The recycling company invested an undisclosed sum in the Müllendorf production plant this year: an additional label removal before wet washing serves to improve the efficiency of the washing facility and, in addition to this, the silo facility for flakes was upgraded for storage before food-grade processing. A new truck loading station will be operational before the end of August 2021.

The bottle-to-bottle recycling plant, which includes an SSP reactor (Solid State Polycondensation) from Starlinger (Vienna / Austria; www.starlinger.com), has a performance capacity of 1,800 kg/h. Once all the investment measures have been completed, performance is expected to increase by approximately 20% before the end of this year.

PET to PET was founded 15 years ago by leading companies in the Austrian beverage industry – Coca-Cola HBC Austria, Egger Getränke, Rauch Fruchtsäfte, S. Spitz and Vöslauer Mineralwasser. The recycling facility in Müllendorf went into operation one year later.