Thanks to Fost Plus & Morssinkhof Rymoplast, butter tubs and shampoo bottles will soon be recycled in Belgium

Lommel, March 16, 2023 - Fost Plus announces the construction of a new recycling plant for plastic packaging from the blue bag. The organisation responsible for the recycling chain of household packaging in Belgium has signed a contract for the purpose with Morssinkhof Plastics, part of the Morssinkhof Rymoplast Group, which is a family firm specializing in plastic recycling. This is the fifth new recycling plant for plastic packaging in Belgium. The plant, which is being built in Lommel, will be operational in October 2024, and will recycle polypropylene (PP) (such as butter tubs and ready-meal trays) and polyethylene (such as shampoo and milk bottles and flasks) packaging into raw materials for producing new packaging.

Packaging plays an important role in the storage and protection of consumables and food. At the same time, it is important that they be recycled so that the materials are given a second life. The new plant in Lommel will recycle around 40,000 tonnes of plastic packaging per year into granulates or recycled plastic pellets. Fost Plus will provide 24,000 tonnes from the PMD bags of Belgian families.

“We are very pleased with the new plant”, says Wim Geens, managing director of Fost Plus. “Thanks to the good habits and efforts of our fellow citizens, who ensure that all packaging ends up in the blue bags, we are among the best in Europe when it comes to recycling. It has always been our intention to keep recycling as close to home as possible. This new plant is the last step in the creation of a local circular economy that makes Belgium a recycling hub at the heart of Europe.”

100% return to packaging

The new recycling centre processes PP packaging (such as ready-meal trays and butter tubs or yoghurt cups) and HDPE packaging (such as milk, shampoo, laundry detergent or shower gel bottles and flasks). Morssinkhof has committed to delivering recycled materials of such high quality that all of it can be used to produce new packaging. And as much as possible for the Belgian market.

Eric Morssinkhof, owner of Morssinkhof Plastics, confirms: “As a pioneer in plastic recycling and a major player in the processing of plastic, we are delighted to be able to build this new plant. By using the latest technologies, we will be able to contribute the closing the loop for HDPE and PP packaging in Belgium. We are proud to be able to expand our activities in this way in Belgium, where we are active since 1990.”

Investing in a sustainable local circular economy

The new plant, involving an investment of 30 million euros, is being built in the Kristalpark III industrial zone in Lommel. The site is managed and developed by the Limburg investment society LRM and the city of Lommel. The location offers added strategic value, given the opening up of the province of Limburg as a whole and of the industrial zone in particular via road, rail and waterways. There will be synergies with the other site of Morssinkhof Rymoplast enabling an efficient operation and swift start of the new factory. What’s more, the presence of the largest solar park in the Benelux, with more than 300,000 solar panels, inspires a sustainable operation.

The arrival of the new recycling centre will create 65 new jobs. The plant will cover a total area of 4.1 hectares, and will be operational in October 2024.

"The city of Lommel, together with LRM, is particularly pleased that Morssinkhof Rymoplast is building a modern recycling plant on the Kristalpark III site. Our business park is now a real cradle for the circular economy. The efforts we are making in this direction with our partners are clearly bearing fruit. This is not only an excellent initiative for employment in our region, but also for a society that is - fortunately - becoming increasingly climate conscious. The fact that Fost Plus is joining forces with a company in Lommel to build its fifth recycling center closes the circle," says Mayor Bob Nijs.

This recycling contract is the latest of five high tech recycling centres spread across Belgium, three of which are already operational.

While in 2020, only 9% of plastic packaging materials was recycled in Belgium, and the rest went to neighbouring countries, thanks to the five new recycling centres, starting in 2025 more than 75% of plastic packaging will be recycled domestically.

With the introduction of the New Blue Bag, the construction of the five new sorting centres to handle the additional packaging and the five new recycling centres, more than 1 billion euros have been invested in the local circular economy in Belgium, which accounts for 550 direct and twice as many indirect new jobs.