Availability of RPET (Recycled Polyethylene terephthalate) to replace PVC rigid film in the UK food industry continues to be in short supply. The industry is under increasing pressure to ensure that packaging materials used are fully recyclable and sustainable in the circular economy. AMB Group has positioned their UK business to address this problem for customers.
In early 2020 AMB will help facilitate the transition from PVC film to RPET film with the installation of a new Bandera extruder adding a further 10’000 MT of capacity starting manufacture during the first quarter of next year. This will result in a further 500 million RPET post-consumer bottles being recycled every year in addition to the 12 million RPET bottles per day that AMB Group currently reprocesses into food grade material.
Giles Peacock, COO of AMB Group, said, “Despite RPET being an available option many food products are still packed in PVC by UK food processors which is contrary to the current sustainability driven requirements. Our strategies had identified this market issue and as a business we are flexible enough to bring the needed capacity quicker than our competitors”.
Mark Prinn, MD of AMB UK , said, “With so much focus on the environmental impact of plastic packaging, RPET offers excellent sustainability credentials for retailers, brand owners and food manufacturers. The addition of this offering along side our continued servicing of the thermoformed packaging market with both film and design, prototype and tooling, means that we can now give our customers further product options, increasing our range”.
The additional capacity will add to the existing AMB Group capacity of over 100,000 tonnes and coupled with local sales and technical expertise and a complimentary flexible film product range will enable smooth transition of food processors from PVC and into the widely preferred RPET material.
AMB Group provides sustainable packaging solutions to safely protect food and increase shelf life while having the ability to conceptually design complete packaging solutions from design and prototype stage to supply of all component materials and production tooling.
AMB is an international European based company with 4 manufacturing sites in Italy and the UK servicing all major European territories