PET-Recycling: New recycling line in France

The Freudenberg Politex Group (www.freudenbergpolitex.com), world leader in the production and marketing of polyester nonwovens, mainly used for the manufacturing of bituminous roofing membranes, will expand its capacity of in-house production of raw materials by investing in a post-consume PET (polyester) bottles recycling plant in the site of Colmar, France. The plant will have a capacity of 24.000 ton/y of recycled PET flakes and will cover not only the local need of the plant in Colmar, but it will also contribute to the needs of other production units of the Group around the world.

This investment is part of a strategic plan of expansion, which includes other projects already started to increase the volumes of finished products. The technology, of Italian origin, realizes the recycling process through electronic detection of impurities, grinding and washing with detergents, granting high and consistent quality standards of regenerated PET, that allows the production of high quality finished nonwovens products. The Colmar unit has been using large quantities of recycled PET as raw material for a long time.

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The start up of the line is expected in the first half of 2005. With this investment the Freudenberg Politex Group will realize also in the unit of Colmar the upstream integrated production cycle already installed in Novedrate (CO) and in Pisticci (MT). Besides the internal needs of raw material, the decision to locate this investment in Colmar is also due to the favourable local conditions and to the real availability of post-consume PET bottles. The majority of the demand will be in fact granted by the supply chain of Eco-Emballages and Valorplast. Freudenberg Politex confirms its commitment in the environmental protection not only with the recycling of PET bottles, but also with the reduction and the recycling of industrial waste of its production lines and the policy of progressive decrease of air-borne emissions. These efforts and the constant attention to the impact on the environment has allowed both sites of Novedrate and Colmar to achieve the certification ISO 14001 for the Environmental Management System, the company said recent in a press release.

Freudenberg Politex S.A., Colmar Cedex, France

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