A 100,000-square-foot facility in Spain will have the capacity to process more than 50 million pounds of e-plastics per year. | sonsart/Shutterstock[/caption]
Spanish plastics recycling operation Fosimpe will enter the mixed-plastics processing sector in the coming weeks, driven not only by the global regulatory environment but by greater public interest in domestic material processing.
The Segovia, Spain-headquartered company is known primarily for its scrap plastic collection and brokering services. Fosimpe collects and buys scrap plastic, including post-consumer and post-industrial resins.
In the past, the company has moved a significant portion of the plastic it handles to export markets, largely concentrated in Asia. That was particularly true for its low-value material, such as mixed plastics recovered from electronics.
But over the past year, Fosimpe has been developing its own processing arm to handle these materials domestically. The company has created a separate entity, Sostenplas, and next month it plans to start up a more than 100,000-square-foot facility, also located in Segovia. Sostenplas will have the capacity to process more than 50 million pounds of e-plastics per year.
Pablo Leon, who manages exports for Fosimpe, serves as CEO of Sostenplas. He said changes in the Basel Convention and associated regulatory changes in Europe made it more difficult to move material to export markets. But there are other forces pushing for local processing, he said.
"Of course, the door being closed for exports is a major driver, but not the only one," Leon said. "We are also seeing more pressure from consumers, at least in Spain. We are seeing that people want all the waste that is generated in our country … to be recycled locally."
That public interest was part of the tipping point that convinced the company the time was right for domestic processing.
"You cannot only depend on one factor, especially if it's regulations, because regulations can be unpredictable," Leon said. "So we wanted to be sure that the market was supporting that too."
[caption id="attachment_15315" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] A 100,000-square-foot facility in Spain will have the capacity to process more than 50 million pounds of e-plastics per year. | sonsart/Shutterstock[/caption]
Spanish plastics recycling operation Fosimpe will enter the mixed-plastics processing sector in the coming weeks, driven not only by the global regulatory environment but by greater public interest in domestic material processing.
The Segovia, Spain-headquartered company is known primarily for its scrap plastic collection and brokering services. Fosimpe collects and buys scrap plastic, including post-consumer and post-industrial resins.
In the past, the company has moved a significant portion of the plastic it handles to export markets, largely concentrated in Asia. That was particularly true for its low-value material, such as mixed plastics recovered from electronics.
But over the past year, Fosimpe has been developing its own processing arm to handle these materials domestically. The company has created a separate entity, Sostenplas, and next month it plans to start up a more than 100,000-square-foot facility, also located in Segovia. Sostenplas will have the capacity to process more than 50 million pounds of e-plastics per year.
Pablo Leon, who manages exports for Fosimpe, serves as CEO of Sostenplas. He said changes in the Basel Convention and associated regulatory changes in Europe made it more difficult to move material to export markets. But there are other forces pushing for local processing, he said.
"Of course, the door being closed for exports is a major driver, but not the only one," Leon said. "We are also seeing more pressure from consumers, at least in Spain. We are seeing that people want all the waste that is generated in our country … to be recycled locally."
That public interest was part of the tipping point that convinced the company the time was right for domestic processing.
"You cannot only depend on one factor, especially if it's regulations, because regulations can be unpredictable," Leon said. "So we wanted to be sure that the market was supporting that too."
A 100,000-square-foot facility in Spain will have the capacity to process more than 50 million pounds of e-plastics per year. | sonsart/Shutterstock[/caption]
Spanish plastics recycling operation Fosimpe will enter the mixed-plastics processing sector in the coming weeks, driven not only by the global regulatory environment but by greater public interest in domestic material processing.
The Segovia, Spain-headquartered company is known primarily for its scrap plastic collection and brokering services. Fosimpe collects and buys scrap plastic, including post-consumer and post-industrial resins.
In the past, the company has moved a significant portion of the plastic it handles to export markets, largely concentrated in Asia. That was particularly true for its low-value material, such as mixed plastics recovered from electronics.
But over the past year, Fosimpe has been developing its own processing arm to handle these materials domestically. The company has created a separate entity, Sostenplas, and next month it plans to start up a more than 100,000-square-foot facility, also located in Segovia. Sostenplas will have the capacity to process more than 50 million pounds of e-plastics per year.
Pablo Leon, who manages exports for Fosimpe, serves as CEO of Sostenplas. He said changes in the Basel Convention and associated regulatory changes in Europe made it more difficult to move material to export markets. But there are other forces pushing for local processing, he said.
"Of course, the door being closed for exports is a major driver, but not the only one," Leon said. "We are also seeing more pressure from consumers, at least in Spain. We are seeing that people want all the waste that is generated in our country … to be recycled locally."
That public interest was part of the tipping point that convinced the company the time was right for domestic processing.
"You cannot only depend on one factor, especially if it's regulations, because regulations can be unpredictable," Leon said. "So we wanted to be sure that the market was supporting that too."
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