Saperatec is building its first recycling plant for composite packaging in Dessau to produce film-ready plastic recyclates.

At the "K" trade fair in Düsseldorf, Saperatec GmbH plans to present its "pioneering process for recycling composite packaging", which it says is a wet-mechanical process for recovering filmable plastic recyclates and aluminium from composite packaging. After several years of pilot-scale testing, Saperatec is currently building its first industrial recycling plant in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which is scheduled to go into operation next year and will initially be designed for 18,000 tonnes per year. According to the company, the wet-mechanical recycling process consists of mechanical preparation, a hot-washing process in which the composite materials are delaminated without solvents using water-based separating liquids, sorting and finally mechanical recycling. The chemicals used in the process are said to be reusable over 30 times and comply with all food contact regulations.