Alpla boosts its plastics recycling across south-east Asia

With the launch of a regional head office in Singapore, global plastics packaging recycler Alpla Group targets to strengthen its footprint in south east Asia. From 2022 the Singapore hub is to merge Alpla’s current operations in China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

With 2 750 employees, Alpla Asia-Pacific is ‘well situated to develop the packaging of tomorrow for the Asian market,’ says the company. As well as extending the reach of Alpla’s moulding technology, there is a strong focus on ‘the further development of circular economy activities in the region’.

‘We are convinced that establishing this new regional organisation is the right step to support our ambitions in the region,’ comments company ceo Philipp Lehner. ‘It will especially enable us to develop market-leading products and services for our growing customer base in Asia.’

The Asia Pacific region will be managed by Roland Wallner, currently Alpla’s managing director, North East Asia. ‘With this step we are bundling our extensive competences and resources in different markets of the region and aligning them in terms of strategic development, customer service, sales and purchasing.’

The opening of the Singapore head office is another step in Alpla’s global growth. In early 2021, the company announced it would invest an annual average of EUR 50 million in expanding its recycling activities until 2025. In total, the annual capacity of the Alpla recycling companies, joint ventures and partnerships amounts to approximately 130 000 tonnes of PET and 60 000 tonnes of PE.