The Plastic Packaging division was created following the merge of two time-honoured companies into the ReLife group. Plastipol and Plastipoliver have consolidated experience in recycling processes, starting from industrial and post-consumer waste, with an industrial vision that has always been well ahead of its time.
The Plastic Packaging division holds over 30 patents and pays the utmost attention to circularity through the various certifications including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, CARBON FOOTPRINT UNI EN 15593, UNI EN 13592, NF, NF ENVIRONMENT, UNI EN 13432, PSV, HPB.
ReLife Plastic Packaging receives more than 16,000 tonnes of plastic waste, mainly from sorted post-consumer waste in the Recycling Division facilities per year, transforming it into 13,000 tonnes of secondary raw material and in various finished products, including polythene bags and films for sales to the end consumer.
A PIONEERING VISION
The ReLife Plastic Packaging division has its roots in the vision of the founders of Plastipol and Plastipoliver in the mid-1960s and 1970s.
The first bags, made from virgin material, were sold to small businesses distributing biscuits in the Piedmont region to improve food preservation and protection.
The development of the production of regenerated plastic was the result of an ambitious idea, with no equals at the time, to cope with the oil crisis in the mid-1970s and the consequent exponential increase in the cost of raw materials.
dei costi della materia prima.
THE PRODUCTION CYCLE
The facilities of the Recycling division start the process by collecting and recycling recoverable waste from private-owned industries, municipalities and supply chain consortia. The Plastic Packaging division uses and processes the selected waste from the facilities to produce granules and a wide range of finished products.
Sorting, grinding and washing operations before the final granule extrusion stage are carried out at the facility. The process is technical excellence on a European level in post-consumer plastic purification, producing material even capable of replacing virgin material in critically thin applications (up to 15 microns).
PRODUCTION AND CO2 EMISSIONS
The production facility works on three shifts, with 16 different extruders from single-layer to seven-layer, to make around 800 different products ranging from food bags for chilled food storage to non-food applications, bags for clothes and rubbish, polyethylene film.
The transformation and production facilities process more than 15 thousand tons of granules (between virgin and recycled) and reach more than 2.5 billion bags sold to end consumers, fully respecting the verticalisation guidelines (all the recycled raw material is self-produced) and sustainability, with CO2 emissions that are 50% lower than in virgin-only processes and with superior finished product circularity because it is made with high percentages of post-consumer material.
THE INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The industrial strategy of the Plastic Packaging division is to guarantee thin materials and a high percentage of post-consumer recycling. More in particular, on the critical topic of secondary and tertiary packaging, we offer customers the supply of rewindable film (e.g. for pallets) with 60% post-consumer material and a thickness of around 15 microns made from their own reclaimed polymer-based waste.
The Plastic Packaging division works in synergy with the Recycling division to achieve an industrial integration that completes the circular economy path to maximise value along the recycling chain.