He has just launched the project "Plastic has changed, change your mind about plastic" and now Alpla is thinking about expanding its business by investing in Morocco. The company, in fact, one of the giants of recycling and packaging in the food and beverage sector, has expanded its presence in North Africa by acquiring a majority stake in the Moroccan company Atlantic Packaging. The transaction was carried out with Alpla, which founded a new joint venture, Alpla Morocco, with the former sole owner of Atlantic Packaging, Diana Holding.

Through the acquisition and the new joint venture, Alpla intends to contribute "with its expertise and experience to the production of preforms in PET for the regional markets of Maghreb and West Africa". In addition to preforms, Alpla Morocco also produces plastic pallets by injection moulding and packaging film by extrusion at its plant in the Moroccan city of Tangier. "The initiative -underlines the company’s statement- aims to lay the foundations for sustainable growth and packaging solutions in the North West Africa region".

"Together with our strategic partner Diana Holding, we want to exploit the huge potential of regional markets, open new segments and contribute our experience as a global supplier of preform systems, bottles and closures," explains Christian Fessler, General Manager of Alpla for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Our common vision -adds Rita Zniber, ceo of Diana Holding- is to be one of the leading suppliers of high-quality plastic packaging in Morocco and West Africa and to offer innovative solutions. We created Atlantic Packaging with the vision to expand its capacity through a strategic partnership".

The Tangier plant, which covers an area of about 12,000 square meters, will be expanded in several stages in the coming years: more than 20,000 square meters of space will be available for future expansion. In the first phase, Alpla Morocco will triple its production capacity from the current 100 million preforms to about 300 million units per year: at the moment the company is investing in two new PET preform production lines.

"With our headquarters in Morocco, we can provide our global customers in North Africa with the usual quality and flexibility, acquire new business partners and expand our portfolio to new areas -says Javier Delgado, Regional director general of Alpla for Africa, the Middle East and Turkey- . At the same time, we are creating new jobs by expanding our production volume".

"By producing bottles, preforms and closures, as we already do in South Africa and Angola -concludes Delgado-, we provide customers with successful products and sustainable solutions from a single source, giving them an edge on the market".