Plastic packaging and recycling company Alpla Group is developing a new high-density polyethylene (HDPE) recycling plant in Toluca, Mexico.

The construction of the plant is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2021. The project will allow the company to expand its recycling activities across the world.

Alpla’s new state-of-the-art HDPE recycling plant will be developed in an acquired property in Toluca. The plant will have the capacity to produce 15,000t of non-food grade post-consumer recycled material annually.

The packaging materials produced at the plant will be utilised for packaging solutions for personal care and household cleaning products.

Estimated to involve an investment of approximately €15m ($17.75m), the project is expected to create 65 jobs.

The investment will enable the company to realise its global targets for the New Plastics Economy initiative. The primary consumer markets of the plant will be Mexico, neighbouring countries in Central America and the US.

Alpla Group was founded as Alpenplastik Lehner Alwin GmbH in Hard, Austria in 1955. Alpla currently has 181 production facilities across 46 countries, of which 71 operate as in-house plants.

The plastic packaging produced by the company has diverse applications including cosmetics and care products, washing and cleaning agents, food and drinks, household detergents, pharmaceutical products, lubricants, and engine oils.

Alpla’s in-house production plants prevented nearly 43,000 tons of CO₂ emissions in 2019. Alpla partnered with Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer BillerudKorsnas to develop innovative bio-based and recyclable paper bottles in April 2019.

Alpla introduced the world’s first carbon-neutral recycled PET in October 2020. The company aims to make all its packaging solutions fully recyclable by 2025.

Alpla México, Coca Cola México, and Coca-Cola Femsa formed Industria Mexicana de Reciclaje (IMER), a joint venture to establish the first bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Latin America, which commenced operations in 2005.

The bottle-to-bottle recycling plant is being utilised for collecting and recycling used PET beverage bottles over the last 15 years. The joint venture produces nearly 15,000 tons of food-grade recycled material from post-consumer PET annually.

Alpla opened its 100th plant in China in 2007 and acquired the plastic products manufacturers Plasco and Argo in 2015. The company entered the HDPE recycling business with the acquisition of two recycling plants in Spain in November 2019.