Greiner Packaging takes over recycling company Alwag

Greiner Packaging is broadening its portfolio of businesses and adding the first recycling company to the group by acquiring a Serbia-based producer of PET flakes.

The purchase of Alwag, which will be renamed Greiner Recycling d.o.o., sees Greiner expand its business model by additionally entering the business of reprocessing recyclable materials.

Greiner Packaging said the acquisition is also  a direct reflection of Greiner Packaging’s exhaustive efforts to boost sustainability. In purchasing the PET flake producer, Greiner Packaging is pushing ahead with an expansion drive it has embarked on in recent years as well as pursuing its extensive circular economy goals. The Alwag takeover means Greiner Packaging now has three locations in Serbia: one recycling company and two manufacturing bases.

As the first recycling company in the group, Greiner Recycling d.o.o. will help to secure the material streams that will later be converted by Greiner Packaging. This sustainable form of backward integration will ensure a dependable supply of raw materials that are essential to Greiner Packaging continuing to offer customers the reliability they are accustomed to going forward. It is also key to expanding recycling as an integral part of the company’s business model.

“PET is currently the only mechanically recycled material that can be used for food applications. We are strong believers in the potential of PET and, by expanding our expertise, we are actively committed to using this material effectively,” said Manfred Stanek, CEO of Greiner Packaging.

“As we work toward our sustainability goals, which we pursue consistently through all the business decisions we make, we naturally pay special attention to the possible creation of other r-PET streams in addition to the bottle-to-bottle stream. That would mean that an old PET cup could become a new PET cup in the future.”

To incorporate recycled PET into packaging, the PET flakes are extruded and then thermoformed. In the future, injection moulding applications will also be considered.

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