OneCircle (formerly Lightweight Containers), the producer and sales organization of KeyKeg and UniKeg plastic kegs for beverages, announced a new partnership with Kwaliflex Food Recycling, one of the largest processors of residual waste streams from the food and beverage industry in Western Europe.

Headquartered in Den Helder, the Netherlands, OneCircle is a family-owned business with a commitment to sustainability and the circular economy. The company says its KeyKeg is a safe and sustainable PET keg range designed to ensures draft beverages reach consumers around the world as fresh as the day they were produced. After use, the empty kegs are collected and recycled.

For this reason, the business launched the “OneCircle collection community” four years ago to create and implement collection networks for its used kegs in an increasing number of countries to ensure they are recycled, and the raw materials are used again.  Kwaliflex is the latest partner to join the community.

Kwaliflex Food Recycling, also family-owned and based in Wanroij, the Netherlands, processes all kinds of rejected food and beverages and turns them into green energy using a bio fermenter. Currently, enough green power is generated to meet the energy needs of more than 12,500 households, according to the company. Other residual products from the bio fermenter are used in customizable soil enrichment products.

Alongside its food and beverage processing, Kwaliflex has also invested in the recycling of the various food and beverage packaging by designing dedicated machinery and building up a network of material recyclers for further material processing. Today, almost 100% of all incoming goods are captured for reuse.

Bert Hanssen, CTO of OneCircle explains: “Ahead of upcoming European regulations, OneCircle is committed to increasing the use of recycled materials in its kegs. That is why we have taken the initiative and created our own collection hubs to boost recycling of our products alongside existing waste streams.”

“We want to grow the community as quickly as possible to enable the production of KeyKegs containing the maximum amount of recycled materials and make the circular economy a reality. Kwaliflex fits very well in our international collection community and our partners in plastic recycling and because of Kwaliflex’s state of the art expertise and willingness to further invest in packaging recycling, I expect them to play a growing role in the recycling of our used kegs.”

Pieter Smits, CEO of Kwaliflex follows: “Originating from the agricultural industry, we have focused more and more on food and beverage waste processing and became one of the biggest and most reliable partners for major brands. As a result, we also had to find a solution for the responsible recycling of packaging like cartons, glass and plastic bottles, steel kegs and plastic kegs.”

“Collection and recycling of multi-material plastic kegs is challenging and we are happy to be part of OneCircle’s materials loop to further develop the processing of this complex packaging. Today, already 86% of the recovered KeyKeg plastics are reused into new KeyKegs and we look forward to increasing this percentage further and to rapidly increase the number of collected kegs together with OneCircle in a fruitful partnership.”

To date, OneCircle has started successful collection in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, France and Belgium and is exploring effective networks in other countries around the globe. OneCircle says it is committed to taking responsibility for the end of life of its kegs and to partner with relevant businesses to create a circular economy.

Visit www.kwaliflex.nl or www.kwaliflex.com or www.onecirclecommunity.com for more information.