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| ALPLA and Coca-Cola FEMSA start the construction of the new PLANETA recycling plant |
With an investment of more than 60 million dollars, the recycling plant Planta Nueva Ecología de Tabasco – better known as PLANETA – will be equipped with the most modern technology available worldwide. It will have the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET bottles per year, which will result in 35,000 tonnes of recycled PET material ready for reuse.
The cornerstone ceremony was led by Guillermo Arturo del Rivero León, secretary of the government of Tabasco, and was attended by renowned figures such as Carlos Torres Ballesteros, ALPLA managing director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean; John Santa Maria, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola FEMSA; Abraham Cano, mayor of Cunduacán; and José Friedrich García Mallitz, secretary for the economic development and competitiveness of Tabasco.
Development node for south-east Mexico
The construction and operation of the PLANETA recycling plant is expected to generate more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs and will thus make a key contribution to the objectives of the Mexican government headed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to promote development and employment in south-east Mexico.
Its strategic location in the region with the greatest potential for solid waste recycling will also make it an important development node that will integrate 18 collection centres throughout south and south-east Mexico. In addition to offering an environmental service, it will boost the region’s economy.
ALPLA managing director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Carlos Torres Ballesteros, stated, ‘This new recycling plant for food-grade PET will be ALPLA’s third recycling plant in Mexico, which makes us a spearhead at a national level and a recycling benchmark for the rest of the world. As part of our commitment to sustainability, ALPLA will invest more than 50 million euros every year between 2021 and 2025 to expand its global recycling capacity.’
Post-consumer PET pioneers
Since 2005, ALPLA Mexico, Coca-Cola Mexico and Coca-Cola FEMSA have united forces to run Industria Mexicana de Reciclaje (IMER), the first food-grade PET recycling plant in Latin America.
Located in the State of Mexico, this facility has a production capacity of 15,000 tonnes of flakes from post-consumer PET per year. Since its foundation, it has processed more than 140,000 tonnes of this material, which has been returned to the production cycle of new bottles. This has saved the same volume of virgin resin, which in turn has reduced the carbon footprint.
