Veolia (Paris, France; www.veolia.com) has signed and closed the acquisition of Dutch company AKG Kunststof Groep, a European market leader in the field of recycling and compounding of polypropylene. With this acquisition, Veolia boosts its development in the field of circular economy and confirms its goal to become a reference producer of recycled raw materials.
AKG Kunststof Groep is a specialist and custom manufacturer of a broad assortment of high-quality polypropylene (PP) granulates which are sold to manufacturers of plastic products, often substituting virgin plastics. Raw materials are either pre-processed plastic flakes with a high PP content, mainly sourced from commercial, industrial or household waste or PP production scraps, sourced from manufacturers of PP products. Post-consumer fraction of the PP (i.e. household recyclables) used by AKG has recently grown up to 90% of the sourcing. Customer applications of AKG products notably include horticultural, infrastructure, electronic appliances, automotive and packaging products. Operating out of Vroomshoop in the Netherlands, AKG currently employs 53 people, has sold 37,000 metric tons (m.t.) of recycled material and has posted revenues of €34 million in 2014.
With a state-of-the-art equipped laboratory, providing comprehensive analysis in each stage of the production process, in combination with highly developed formulation skills, as well as advanced separation technologies currently developed, the Vroomshoop facility will be the cornerstone for the expansion of Veolia’s European platform of recycled raw plastic materials manufacturing.
For Antoine Frérot, chairman and chief executive officer of Veolia, “this operation is the next natural step for Veolia in its strategic transformation and development. Our growth on new thriving markets and our ability to provide solutions for the recovery and production of raw recycled materials have demonstrated the Group’s ability to turn the waste of some into resources for others, by encouraging the implementation of a circular economy from waste collection to treatment, and now to recycled materials manufacturing.”