F. l. t. r. Mayor Markus Günther, district administrator Dr. Achim Brötel, Manager ALBA Recycling GmbH Uwe Küber, Minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy Management Franz Untersteller, ALBA Group-CEO Dr. Eric Schweitzer © ALBA Group
Ready for the Packaging Act: State Minister Franz Untersteller visits the ALBA waste sorting plant in Walldürn
Modern technology for high recycling volumes
+++ District administrator Dr Achim Brötel and Mayor Markus Günther accompany the State Minister +++ Chairman of the ALBA Group Axel Schweitzer: “Private sector investments are the guarantor for the achievement of ambitious recycling goals” +++
Berlin/Walldürn. Today the State Minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy Management, Franz Untersteller, visited the ALBA Recycling GmbH plant for the processing of recyclables in Walldürn. Mr. Untersteller toured the facility with the District Administrator of Neckar-Odenwald Dr Achim Brötel and the Mayor of the town of Walldürn Markus Günther. Accompanied by Dr. Eric Schweitzer, CEO of the ALBA Group, the politicians were able to admire the high standards at the innovative plant at which ALBA Recycling GmbH – a subsidiary of the environmental services provider and recycling specialist the ALBA Group – processes approximately 200,000 tonnes of used packaging, as collected under the dual system, per year.
“The sorting technology here at the location of Walldürn is the most modern in Europe. Thanks to its continuous further development and modernisation, it is ideally positioned to fulfil the high-volume requirements of the pending Packaging Act in Germany,” explained Dr Eric Schweitzer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ALBA Group. “Private sector investment in technology and know-how of the kind that we can see here are of decisive importance for maintaining Germany’s leading position in the recycling sector. Only in this way it will be possible to achieve the ambitious goals in the area of raw materials efficiency and recycling.”
“The recycling of waste packaging saves resources and therefore makes a key contribution to environmental protection. Therefore, it is not only a good idea, it is also right to set down ambitious recycling goals and to work hard to ensure that they are achieved,” highlighted Franz Untersteller, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy Management of the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. “Recycling quotas alone are not enough, however, it is more important to focus on the recycling capability of the packaging materials during their actual development,” said the Minister, appealing to the manufacturing sector. Mr Untersteller believes there to be a considerable need for further work in this area – an area in which the new Germany-wide Packaging Act has regrettably fallen short.
The Walldürn sorting plant opened in 2008 and has been subject to continuous further technical development ever since. It is one of four ultramodern production plants for recyclables to be owned and managed by ALBA Recycling GmbH, and combines the latest environmental technology with the 50 years’ know-how of ALBA. Recyclable material separators sort the waste materials which arrive at the plant into different fractions, such as plastics and metals. The latest technology enables rapid and flexible responses to changes in the materials that arrive at the plant for processing. The recyclables which are gained satisfy the highest standards of quality, and following their sorting they are compressed into bales to enable their reuse as valuable raw materials.
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About Interzero:
Interzero is one of the leading service providers in the field of closing product, material and logistics loops as well as innovation leader in plastics recycling with the largest sorting capacity in Europe. Under the guiding principle of “zero waste solutions”, the company supports over 50,000 customers throughout Europe in the responsible handling of recyclable materials, thus helping them to improve their own sustainability performance and conserve primary resources.
With about 2,000 employees, the company achieves a turnover of over one billion euros (2021). According to Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Interzero’s recycling activities could save one million tonnes of greenhouse gases compared to primary production and more than 8.7 million tonnes of primary raw materials in 2022 alone. As a pioneer in the circular economy, Interzero is winner of the German Sustainability Award as well as the related special award in the “Resources” transformation field for 2024.
Further information can be found at www.interzero.com.
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