Extrusion International 4-2023-USA

26 Extrusion International 4/2023 INDUSTRY NEWS Joint Venture to Create Norway’s First Dedicated Sorting Plant to Enable Circularity of Plastic Packaging Signed TOMRA has signed a majority ownership agreement with Plastretur, the Norwegian producer responsibility organization responsible for recycling plastic packag- ing. The companies will pair up to create a plastic pack- aging sorting plant located in Norway. The 50M EUR (~600MNOK) joint venture will be split 65 percent TOM- RA and 35 percent Plastretur. In 2020, Plastretur initiated the ambitions to set up sorting infrastructure within Norway, as plastic packag- ing waste from Norway is currently being sent to Central Europe. Since TOMRA is an expert in the design of ad- vanced sorting facilities and has a broad knowledge of creating circular solutions to enable recycling, Plastretur considered TOMRA as the obvious partner to support them in their vision to contribute to the Norwegian cir- cular economy for plastics and to help achieve future re- cycling targets. The investment is part of TOMRA’s strategy to build profitable businesses adjacent to the core divisions fo - cused on solving problems our planet is facing using TOMRA’s extensive core knowledge and technology. This TOMRA investment will specifically seek to close the gap in plastics recycling where there is a strong and growing demand from recyclers for high-quality plastic fractions. “I am thrilled to be working on this initiative, which will play a key role in transitioning Norway’s plastic packag- ing into a circular economy,” says Joachim N. Amland, SVP TOMRA Feedstock. “We are recoveringmaterial that would have been lost to incineration, and using our ex- isting TOMRA technology, providing it to the market at very high quality, which has been missing until now.” This will be the first dedicated plastic packaging sort - ing plant in Norway, accepting municipal-sourced sepa- rated and mechanically recovered mixed plastic waste. The plastics will be sorted into 7 types of plastic which will be processed into high-quality fractions that are ready to be used to produce new packaging and other high-quality products. In the new venture, Plastretur will continue to take responsibility for sourcing plastic pack- aging waste from Norwegian municipalities, trade and industry, and deliver this to the plant as input. TOMRA will be responsible for grading the fractions based on type and selling the plastic output. “On behalf of Plastretur, I am proud that our initia- tive to build a Norwegian plastic sorting plant, is being realized,” states CEO of Plastretur, Karl Johan Ingvald- sen. “The plant will be the cornerstone in building the national infrastructure needed to reach future recycling targets. With this plant we are taking a major part in building a Norwegian plastic recycling industry and re- ducing the cross-border transport of waste.” The total sorting capacity planned for the new site will be 90,000 tons of plastics per year and it will be built in Holtskogen Næringspark, Indre Østfold Holtskogen, Norway (near Oslo). The capital investment consists pri- marily of machinery and equipment. The plant is sched- uled to be commissioned in Q4 2024 and to be fully op - erational by Q1 2025. TOMRA www.tomra.com On Expansion Course with Customised Solutions for the Compounding and Packaging Industry Tosaf Fusion, developer and man- ufacturer of customised solutions for compounders and packaging producers, is clearly on course for ex- pansion. The small but dynamic com- pany was founded in 2017 as a sub- sidiary of Tosaf Compounds Ltd. It now holds a leading position in inno- vative products such as modifiers for PA, compatibilizers for PP and HFFR cable compounds, as well as tie lay- ers for PE applications in agriculture and packaging. These products com- plement Tosaf Compounds' com- prehensive portfolio, making the company the only one in the world today that can produce both master- batches and grafted polymers. Due to steadily increasing demand, Tosaf Fusion is currently relocating its pro- duction to a larger facility in Israel's Alon Tavor industrial area. An operating area of 7000 m², additional production lines and the support of Tosaf's enormous production capacities, logistics and inventory will create optimal con- ditions there to further expand the broad product portfolio, to continu- ously supply customers, to supply them efficiently and at the same time to ensure high product qual- ity. This will enable Tosaf Fusion to continue to provide innovative solutions to the highly competitive world of polymer compounding and packaging that improve prod- uct performance and help meet in- dustry standards.