Opening new Polymer Recycling Plant in the presence of First Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr Frans Timmermans

The theme is CIRCULAR ECONOMY = NOW! With the new Polymer Recycling Plant (PRP) Attero will annually recycle 24,000 tons of post-consumer film packaging into high quality regranulate. The regranulate is of such high quality that plastic film products can be produced from post-consumer plastic film waste. This makes it a truly circular solution. It was all made possible by Attero’s investment in a unique combination of technologies.

The film packaging waste is produced by Attero’s Packaging Sorting Plant. This sorting plant sorts packaging waste from consumers (plastic packaging, metal packaging and beverage cartons) into different mono-streams. The largest sorting mono-stream is film packaging. This sorted film is fed into the Polymer Recycling Plant where it is shredded and intensively cleaned. The cleaning process consists of different washing steps among which a hot wash. The heat for the hot wash is generated by Attero’s adjacent energy-from-waste plant and the washing water is circulated via Attero’s own water purification plant, further reducing the environmental footprint of the installation. After the intense washing the clean flakes are melted and filtered by extruders to new plastic pallets: Attero InfiniteFilm LDPE regranulate. This investment of more than €30 million has been made possible by support from the LIFE programme from the European Commission. We thank the European Commission for this support and are honoured that the First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans is willing to officially open Attero’s PRP together with Attero’s CEO Paul Ganzeboom.

Following the opening Mr. Timmermans will join a roundtable discussion with experts from the packaging industry, recycling industry, NGO’s and education. The central question is: How do we develop a market for recycled plastics? We want to recycle more and more, but how will we ensure that the recycled materials will again be applied in new products to make the circular wheel go round and round?
Finally Attero provides its guests and representatives from press with a lunch and the possibility to go on a guided tour through the new plant. Attero is looking forward to an inspiring day with its attendees and guest of honour Mr. Frans Timmermans.