10 thousand tons of plastic per year will stop going to ecosystems and landfills.

With this plant, which had an investment of more than 15 billion pesos, Plastilene Group reaffirms its commitment to Colombia to strengthen plastic circular economy in the country.

This plant becomes not only the most technologically advanced and operational, but also the largest in Colombia to process post-consumer flexible plastics from households, commerce and industry.

Bogota, September 30, 2021. Plastilene Group and its company Reciclene inaugurated today its plant for the processing of post-consumer flexible plastics, which had an investment of close to 15 billion pesos in its construction and adaptation. Plastilene Group is made up of companies dedicated to the manufacture of sustainable and innovative plastic packaging in its carbon neutral certified production plants.

“At Reciclene, we have been recovering our own post-industrial plastic and that of other companies in the sector for more than 40 years. Entering post-consumer recovery industry is our contribution to environment and plastic circular economy in the country, in addition to being a fundamental part of Plastilene Group’s Sustainable Innovation Strategy,” said Stefano Pacini, president of the Group.

Reciclene’s post-consumer plant, which took two years between planning, construction and start-up, has 10,090 square meters that include service, warehouse, storage, maneuvering and parking areas. It is located at Reciclene’s facilities in Gran Sabana Industrial Park in Tocancipá, Cundinamarca.

This plant, the largest in Colombia for post-consumer polyolefins (polyethylene and polypropylene), has state-of-the-art equipment that was custom-designed to meet market needs and be efficient in its operation.

The plant has 30 direct employees. Indirectly, it is estimated that the plant will benefit more than 5,000 waste pickers in the country, improving their income from the sale of new recyclable materials. In addition, the company works closely with recycling associations to offer them social, environmental, technical, and economic support and strengthening programs.

“The plant was built to strengthen plastic circular economy in the country and contribute to the sector sustainability; its implementation helps our customers comply with Resolution 1407/18 and 1342/20 on extended producer responsibility in Colombia. 10,000 tons of plastic material that will be used in our plant can be certified to comply with the regulations,” Pacini said.

The plant has the capacity to transform more than 800 tons per month of plastic waste, including bags for packaging liquids and other food packaging (milk, water, sugar, grains, salt), flexible packaging for cleaning and household products (toilet paper, napkins, kitchen towels, diapers, feminine pads, soaps, etc.), waste produced in the industries where they are packaged; from the stores where the products are sold and from the homes where citizens consume them.

Ricardo Estrada, Vice President of Sustainability and Purchasing of Plastilene Group said “we will contribute to prevent waste from going to landfills or ecosystems, transforming them into pellets that will reduce consumption of virgin raw materials and thus contribute to reduction of greenhouse gases and mitigation of climate change”.

The recovered pellets will be used to manufacture new packaging and other plastic products such as trade films, profiles, pallets, buckets, hoses, bricks, and hand-washing sinks, among others.

This plant will allow Plastilene Group to increase its participation in the manufacture of sustainable raw materials for plastic industry, and to continue contributing to goals fulfillment established in the Sustainable Development Goals within the framework of responsible production and consumption, climate change mitigation, and protection of the country’s seas and terrestrial ecosystems.