ALPLA, the packaging and recycling specialist, opens its state-of-the-art recycling plant in Ballito, South Africa. ALPLA will start production in early 2025.

On October 31, ALPLA held an opening ceremony for its recycling plant in Ballito, South Africa.

With an investment of EUR 60 million and 18 months of construction, the recycling plant is located on a 90,000-square-meter site in the coastal town of Ballito. An additional 30,000 square meters of space is available at the site for further expansion.

From 2025, the ALPLArecycling division will annually produce up to 35,000 tons of mechanically recycled PET (rPET) flakes and food-safe rPET pellets, of which 16,000 tons will be processed into rPET pellets.

The high-quality recycled material will then be processed into sustainable PET preforms for the beverage packaging at ALPLA’s production plant in Lanseria, which opened in 2022.

Regulation for beverage packaging in South Africa

The recycling plant helps beverage industry in South Africa meet legal requirements to include recycled material in beverage packaging.

Under South Africa’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulation, which came into force in 2021, PET drinks bottles have had to contain 10 per cent recycled material since 2022. The legislation requires this to double to 20 percent by 2026.