Meeting the Plastics Challenge
Plastics recycling has been a hot topic for some time and is becoming more prominent with every passing day. German company STF Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH is an expert in this field - with a proven track record of recycling plant installed around the globe and decades of plastics recycling development. Romana Moares spoke to CEO Maximilian Söllner to find out more.
S
TF Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH is part of the STF Group and, together with its sister companies STF Recycling GmbH and STF Thermoform-Folien GmbH, offers a holistic solution to plastics recycling. The STF Group is a specialist in PET recycling and production of recycling machinery and plants. “The STF Group consists of three businesses – STF ThermoformFolien, today the smallest, is the founding company of the Group that my father established in 1980. The other two are STF Recycling focused on plastic waste processing, and STF Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, designing and producing plant and equipment for the sector,” Mr Söllner explained. “STF is a fully family-owned business, run by the second generation now but my father is still leading the R&D department.” The company is headquartered in Aicha in southern Germany, where its operational capability is also located, including the polypropylene film extrusion facility, the recycling machinery construc-
108 Industry Europe
tion, the Group’s engineering capability as well as the PET bottles recycling and granulation facility. “We have also three other sites for PET bottles recycling - in southern Germany towards Regensburg, in Eastern Germany and the newest one, commissioned just a few months ago, in Pilsen, Czech Republic,” Mr Söllner noted.
PET processed Today, STF Recycling GmbH is one of Europe’s largest recyclers and annually processes 130,000 tonnes of recyclable PET bottles. “In summary, recycling machinery is our main product. We focus on the PET bottle market as this is where we have the most experience and expertise,” Mr Söllner affirmed. PET packaging is accumulating in increasing quantities not only in the form of beverage bottles but also as containers for cosmetics and detergents, pharmaceuticals or technical products, which hints at a
