The new FILAO plant in Charleroi, southern Belgium, Belgium's first integrated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle factory, was officially inaugurated on September 20. PET is the main polymer used in water bottles in Belgium, and the inauguration of the plant is a testament to Belgium's ambitions in the field of a green circular economy.
At present, Belgium is leading the development of a green circular economy in Europe, and although the related industries are still imperfect, recycling has become an ongoing task in Belgium. The establishment of the plant is the result of a collaboration between Veolia and Sources Alma, one of the main players in the Belgian and French bottled water market. In addition, FILAO has launched a partnership with Fost Plus, a Belgian non-profit organization responsible for the selective collection, sorting and ** of household packaging waste, which will dispose of about 70% of the PET bottles collected by the organization.
The new plant is located next to TIBI, the metro waste centre in the Charleroi region, and just 100 metres from the Valtris centre, which sorts blue PMC bags, which in Belgium is dedicated to the collection of plastic bottles, metal packs and Tetra Pak cartons. According to the strategic goal of environmental protection, Belgium and Walloon Region plan to take the lead in establishing a virtuous cycle industrial model in the local area, and then gradually build a green circular economy demonstration site that can be promoted and replicated.
The FILAO plant has been in trial operation since March this year, and it has now brought together cutting-edge technology in the field of utilization. With this technology, the center can transform old bottles into new bottles that can be filled, truly realizing the green concept of "bottle to bottle". Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Damien Colette, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FILAO, said: "The factory has now officially started production and the PET bottles of ** are already used to make the mineral water bottles sold by Sources Alma in Belgium. ”
Thousands of PET bottles have already arrived at a nearby sorting center and are pressed into small packets. According to plant manager Benjamin Rousche, the initial dry sorting process was to remove labels and green PET bottles, as the green PET bottles were not processed by the center. The bottle and cap are then shredded and shrunk to a sheet of about 1 square centimeter. These small pieces of plastic are then sorted to separate the PET from the by-products of the other plants**. Subsequently, the flakes are thoroughly washed, dried and subjected to additional inspections before being converted into R-PET, i.e. recycled PET.
The final process is to decontaminate the R-PET to ensure that everything that leaves the factory meets food-grade quality standards and can be re-converted into bottles. The bottles contain up to 50% recycled plastic, far exceeding European targets of 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Luc Bayens, CEO of Sources Alma, said, "Thanks to our partnership with Veolia, we are proud to offer high-quality ** bottles that meet the high standards of the European Union". The company's current capacity can reach about 100,000 tons per year.
The project complements an important link in the Belgian PET** chain – maximizing circularity and sustainability. The project minimizes water demand and treats water with multiple water purification units installed both upstream and downstream of the process. In addition, 12,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels have been installed at the production site, which can meet 20% of the energy needs of the production site. According to Benjamin Rush, Filao can process up to 40,000 tonnes of PET bottles, saving 120,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Walloon Region Economy Minister Willy Borsus said: "With this type of investment, we hope to make great strides in the development of a circular economy. "We should be proud of this expertise in Walloon and Belgium and continue in this direction," said Céline Tellier, Walloon Region's Minister of the Environment. Secretary of State Thomas Dermine pointed out that the transformation of the industrial model also presents opportunities for Wallonia. (Economic ** reporter Xie Mengfan).