On 13 March 2025, the processing plant in Pöchlarn was opened.
 

To the official opening and presentation of Austria's first polyolefin processing plant in Pöchlarn, Lower Austria, Altstoff Recycling Austria AG (ARA) and the plant operator SRP Sekundär Rohstoff Produktion GmbH invited high-ranking representatives from the worlds of politics and business according to a statement. The plant, which has reportedly been in full operation since 1 March, was expected to process up to 30,000 tonnes of recycled material per year. The UPCYCLE process developed by ARA would be used. This would be a process that recovers up to 50 per cent of the recyclable material from heavily soiled packaging or packaging made of several plastics that are not recyclable. The treatment process would achieve high-quality polyolefin recyclates with a purity of at least 90 per cent. These could then be used by industry as secondary raw materials for mechanical or chemical processing. The new technology made an important contribution to keeping raw materials in the cycle for as long as possible, explains ARA board member Thomas Eck: ‘It is of central importance to keep raw materials in the cycle for as long as possible and at the same time to achieve the ambitious EU recycling targets for plastic packaging. UPCYCLE is making an important contribution to this with new technology. Mechanical and chemical recycling processes complement each other for a closed cycle, thus providing additional recyclates that would otherwise be lost,’ says Eck.
 
The input material for the processing plant is said to come from a nearby high-tech plastic sorting plant operated by ARA and its partners Bernegger and Der Grüne Punkt, which went into operation in June 2024 in Ennshafen, Upper Austria. The location in Pöchlarn was chosen to enable a 360-degree circular economy, it is reported. A regional cement plant would receive non-recyclable material from the polyolefin processing plant for thermal recycling. ‘The close cooperation between the municipality, waste management companies and the cement industry has created a unique partnership,’ ARA emphasises.
 
Sources:

• Press release ARA (14.3.2025)
• Photo: © Amago