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AWS Ecoplastics completes 14m food-grade rPET investment

June 19, 2009 Comments Off

AWS Ecoplastics has revealed it is now producing 80,000 tonnes of recycled PET for food packaging at its Lincolnshire plant after completing a 14m investment

The Hemswell plant’s new line can process hot wash PET flake and pellets and the firm has also installed a closed-loop water reprocessing system.

Chief executive Jonathan Short said the water system was environmentally beneficial as it reused resources and the heat is maintained in the system.

“Traditional hot wash process would require you to heat up the water that uses fuel and creates carbon emissions. You would also have to cool the water down to dispose of it, which also uses fuel, ” he said.

AWS already has a contract to supply 13,000 tonnnes of rPET pellet to Artenius Pet Packaging Europe and is looking to develop contract with other packaging firms.

Short said the recycled materials market was “alive and kicking” after the crisis at the turn of the year. “Demand is strong, particularly for cleaner, higher-grade material. At the moment it outweighs supply and that will continue for a number of years.”

“Prices are lower than last year, but then they were exceptionally high. Today’s price is more realistic,” said Short.

- France Plastique Recyclage is set to open a new facility in Limay, to the east of Paris, that can reprocess 40,000 tonnes of PET a year.

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