Since 2015, Lightweight Containers (keykeg.com) has been developing innovative recycling technologies for KeyKegs along with technology institutes and partners in the recycling industry. The company announced that it has now started several pilot projects for collecting used KeyKegs. At Drinktec in Germany, Lightweight Containers presented the first KeyKegs made from 10% used KeyKegs and a total of 40% recycled materials. This percentage will rise rapidly as the collection of used KeyKegs expands.

The plastic recycling industry is a relatively new one and is rapidly developing. Plastic products with a more complex composition are not yet being recycled on a large scale. “That’s why we decided to work with a few leaders in the recycling industry itself to develop new recycling methods,” says Bert Hansen, chief technology officer of Lightweight Containers. “We spent two and a half years looking for the best technologies and started our own project. Now, we’re on the verge of a huge breakthrough. After a long period of development, we’ve arrived at the point where we can process used KeyKegs on a recycling line. It has helped development enormously that the KeyKeg has a circular design and already mostly consists of mono materials. We can already reuse 81% of a KeyKeg.”