LinPac Packaging has spent another £3 million at its Featherstone plant in West Yorkshire on equipment for its Rfresh range of recycled PET food packaging trays. Last year the company invested the same amount in thermoforming and extrusion equipment to make Rfresh using a minimum of 50 per cent post-consumer recyclate. The new money doubles capacity with two more sheet lines capable of making a further 400 million trays a year.
LinPac does not disclose the source of its equipment, but says that it is capable of augmenting the filtration process of the flake supply companies, to increase the purity of the reclaim. According to LinPac Packaging’s director of innovation, Alan Davey, the plant installed a year ago has produced 250 million PET and PET/PE trays without a single customer quality complaint.
As well as increasing the volume capacity, the new investment has broadened the range of packaging which can be made. Pierre Thumerel, vice president and general manager of the protein market sector, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the response to the Rfresh range from consumers and the industry alike. Demand is 15 per cent more than expected. It isn’t just a case of buyers switching from aPET to rPET; we are seeing overall growth in the sales of our protein trays with the Rfresh range proving extremely popular. We believe there is further growth to come and are planning additional investment once the new extruders reach full capacity.”
Source: britishplastics.co.uk
