“The key question is how we can unlock the full potential of recycling”
What does it take to turn used plastic into new, high-quality products? By closely integrating production and recycling, the ALPLA Group sets its own standards. Georg Lässer, Director Business Development, Procurement and Sales Recycling, provides insights into the company's commitment to quality: a balancing act between material purity and challenging market conditions.
The combination of production and recycling gives ALPLA a unique selling point.
“Anyone who manufactures packaging should also take responsibility for its next life,” says the industry expert. Recycling has been firmly established at ALPLA for more than 25 years. The goal: a used package becomes a new product of equivalent quality – following the bottle-to-bottle principle for PET. Worldwide, ALPLA's 13 recycling plants produce 300,000 tons of rPET and 100,000 tons of rHDPE annually for cosmetics, household cleaners, and oil bottles.
Guaranteed purity: “… down to each individual batch”
The combination of production and recycling gives ALPLA a unique selling point: the company knows the requirements of fillers and brand owners firsthand and thinks in terms of raw materials rather than waste. “We want to set a benchmark for recycling quality in the market,” emphasizes Georg Lässer. “That's why customers come to us. They know they get good service, top quality, a global presence, and a technological edge.” The purity of the recyclate is verified through criteria such as color, impact strength, and viscosity, using controlled processes and strict certifications. According to the recycling expert, “every process step can also be traced back to the individual batch and supplier.”
ALPLA also aims to avoid downcycling. The company sells recyclates back to the packaging industry, where possible to maintain the bottle-to-bottle loop. Unlike in the fiber industry, where plastic is often processed into textiles that can no longer be recycled and have no further life cycle, even by-products that do not meet color requirements remain in the technical recycling loop. They are processed into durable applications such as strapping bands. This way, at least the same mechanical properties as those of a recycled bottle are preserved.
One of ALPLA's 13 recycling plants worldwide; pictured here is the HDPE recycling plant in Venta de Baños, Spain.
Challenging market: “… often compares apples to oranges”
In Europe, recyclate currently costs 20 to 50 percent more than virgin material. Georg Lässer makes it clear that, “the market often compares apples to oranges.” Recyclate must meet the highest standards but is much more complex to produce. At the same time, it offers environmental benefits, which is why virgin and recycled plastics should not be treated as equivalent. “However,” Georg Lässer points out, “when virgin material prices are higher, recycling becomes somewhat easier from an economic perspective.”
In addition, EU regulations are extremely complicated, and effective enforcement against violations is lacking. At every step, companies have to “ask the lawyers.” ALPLA has invested heavily and is now waiting “for consistent enforcement.” Because brand owners are speculating on the 2028 review of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), they are reducing their recycled-content targets to cut costs – in some cases from 50 to 30 percent or even to zero. This removes thousands of tons of demand from the market. “That's the situation we're facing at the moment,” explains Lässer. Yet investments require certainty: “You only start investing, of course, if you have planning security.”
AI application: “… doesn’t replace the circular economy, but it helps”
Despite these uncertainties, ALPLA continues to invest in sorting technologies, AI-based quality control, decontamination, and digitalization. The share of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material is set to increase to 30 percent by 2030, with the strategic focus until 2028 on high-quality food-grade recyclates.
Mechanical recycling – jokingly referred to internally as “washing, blow-drying, and styling” – remains the preferred option, with payback periods of five to ten years. Chemical recycling plays only a supplementary role, as the company deliberately wants to “avoid going back a step in the polymer chain,” especially since it generates significantly more CO₂. Initiatives such as “HolyGrail 2.0” (digital watermarks) still lack market relevance. A “Recycled in Europe” label could help build trust, but the recycling executive warns that it “must not lead to additional bureaucracy.”
The existing gap: “… starts at collection”
One of the biggest challenges remains the availability of raw materials. According to Georg Lässer, the actual gap begins at the collection stage: “What isn't collected can't be recycled.” While PET recycling remains relatively stable, polyolefins (HDPE/PP) are under price pressure due to more complex sorting processes and cheap virgin material. Following the current weakness in demand, the opposite situation could emerge from 2030 onward as the PPWR's mandatory recycled-content quotas take effect. ALPLA is therefore expanding capacity, focusing on design for recycling, and establishing long-term partnerships along the value chain.
A key technology for the future is the further development of the Polymac technology. With this new solvent-based process, ALPLA aims to close a market gap and produce food-grade rHDPE to meet the PPWR quotas from 2030. The project will be tested over four years in a pilot plant together with the technology institute NTCP. “This will massively strengthen our technological independence,” emphasizes Georg Lässer. The goal is to use the company's in-house plant engineering expertise to make high-quality recycled materials available in time for demanding packaging applications.
A key advantage in experience: By closely integrating production and recycling, ALPLA knows the requirements of fillers and brand owners firsthand.
Conclusion: “Plastic recycling is already a reality”
The task now is to harmonize framework conditions, review legislative requirements, and design packaging for circularity. A prerequisite is that waste is properly separated. “The circular economy is not a stand-alone project. It only works when policymakers, industry, and consumers all pull together,” the recycling director emphasizes in closing. If that happens, the full potential of recycling can be unlocked.
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