One and a half decades of successful bottle-to-bottle recycling: On the occasion of its 15th anniversary, PET to PET Recycling Österreich GmbH invites guests to a big anniversary celebration at the company site in Müllendorf. In addition to a brand-new image film, guests can marvel at archaeological finds discovered in the course of site expansions for the first time in public. Guided tours of the plant provide exciting insights behind the scenes.
Since PET to PET Recycling Österreich GmbH was founded in 2006 and started operations in 2007, the Burgenland-based flagship company has invested in continuous quality optimisation and ongoing development of the recycling process in the spirit of sustainability. Just this year, the company's property was expanded by 19,000 m² to create additional storage capacity at the site. The newly created area will be equipped with a photovoltaic system. Around 12,000 m² of PV panels are to cover approx. 15 % of the required electrical energy from the company's own generation in the future. "Our numerous expansion and extension measures at the operating site have always contributed to our mission of seamless and resource-saving recycling of PET bottles," explains Mag. FH Thomas Billes, CFO of PET to PET Recycling Österreich GmbH. DI Christian Strasser, Managing Director of PET to PET adds: "The last 15 years of PET to PET fill us with great pride. We would therefore like to thank all our employees, whose commitment has contributed significantly to our success, and look positively to the future as a pioneer in PET recycling.
As part of the celebrations for the 15th anniversary, the guests include Astrid Eisenkopf, Deputy Governor of Burgenland, Univ. Doz. Stephan Schwarzer, former Head of the Department for Environmental and Energy Policy of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Chairman of ARGE Nachhaltigkeitsagenda, Christian Holzer, Head of Section for Environment and Circular Economy at the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, and many more.
In the afternoon, visitors can look forward to a varied programme with free admission. In addition to the presentation of the new PET to PET image film, visitors can marvel at exciting archaeological finds from the Bronze Age, which were discovered in the course of the site expansion, for the first time in public. The unique PET recycling process will be presented in the course of plant tours. For the younger guests, there will be handicraft stations and a bouncy castle.
2022 on record course
After a pandemic-related decline last year, PET to PET was able to report a successful interim balance for the first half of 2022 with a new record value: 15,131 tonnes of PET beverage bottles were kept in the resource cycle - this corresponds to an increase of 5.3% compared to the pre-crisis level (2019: 14,329 tonnes). By the end of 2022, a capacity of 30,000 tonnes of PET material - equivalent to 1.2 billion PET bottles - is expected.
Since its commissioning in 2007, PET to PET has been able to keep 325,000 tonnes of PET material in the recycling loop. Currently, 81 people are employed at the Müllendorf site. The site covers 72,000 m² with a 3,300 m² production hall and a 4,050 m² warehouse.
