Hera Group's Aliplast opens EUR 48.8m rigid plastics recycling plant in Italy
Aliplast, the plastics recycling arm of Italian utility group Hera, has opened its R3GID recycling plant in Modena, Italy, with capacity for up to 30,000 tonnes a year of recycled polymers from rigid plastic waste. The EUR 48.8m (USD 54.8m) investment includes EUR 7.7m (USD 8.7m) from Italy's national recovery plan and uses Nextchem's NX Replast technology, targeting recycled-content demand under the EU PPWR and End of Life Vehicles rules.
Why this mattersThe plant adds scarce European rigid-plastics recycling capacity against a 2040 shortfall Hera puts at 5.7m tonnes, cutting Italian manufacturers' reliance on imported recycled polymer.
- Capacity of up to 30,000 tonnes of recycled rigid polymers a year
- Total investment of EUR 48.8m (USD 54.8m), including EUR 7.7m (USD 8.7m) from Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan
- Output has certified purity above 99%, with properties said to be comparable to virgin plastics
- The technology was developed with Nextchem using its NX Replast upcycling process
- The plant uses treated water and power from Hera's adjacent Modena wastewater and waste-to-energy facilities
- Hera says the plant avoids about 30,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions compared with virgin plastic production