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Nordic Plast, one of the leading polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) recyclers in the Baltics, belonging to Eco Baltia, the largest Baltic environmental and waste management group, has invested €2.8 million into a new sorting line. The new line is automated and provides high-precision pre-sorting and purification of raw materials which will all lead to an upwards of 30% increase in Nordic Plast’s recycling capacities and provide a significant boost to production quality and efficiency.

“Our main goal is to ensure the highest possible plastic packaging recycling rate and quality, thus replacing virgin materials used in packaging. So far, our packaging sorting operations depended quite largely on manual work, which, although ensures high quality, limits faster increase in production capacities. Thanks to the new automated line, our production capacities will increase up to 300 tons or 30% monthly. Furthermore, this investment will help us to build up both efficiency and our international competitiveness, and help ensure a consistent flow of production of the highest quality production for our customers”, explains Andris Trumars, Director of Nordic Plast.

The new equipment is intended for processing materials of various purity, thus also promoting recycling of more difficult to work with packaging streams which have been lagging behind in the industry thus far. With this investment, Nordic Plast will further strengthen its contribution towards the fulfilment of the plastic packaging recycling goals imposed in the European Union which are set to raise the recycling level from the current 22% to 50% of the total volume of the marketed plastic packaging by 2025.

“Eco Baltia’s mission is to find value in things that others already consider unnecessary. That’s why we treat waste as a resource to create new materials and promote circular economy. Therefore, we are constantly developing options to recycle a wider range of packaging and other materials. Investments in the modernisation of Nordic Plast is a significant step to achieve this goal and creates foundation for the development of new recycled products. In parallel, we are continuing our work on other major development projects, providing significant investments in the improvement of efficiency and competitiveness of Eco Baltia group companies which prove themselves more and more convincingly beyond the regional level, contributing to the sustainability of the whole Europe”, stresses Māris Simanovičs, Chairman of the Management Board at Eco Baltia.

According to Vytautas Plunksnis, Partner at INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eco Baltia, the Fund’s strategy is to grow all of its portfolio companies both through add-on acquisitions as well as organically.

“The investment in Nordic Plast’s capacity increase is a great example of this,” says Plunksnis.

Investments in creation of the new Nordic Plast line are partially covered by using the funds received from the European Union fund project “Polymer Recycling Park of the SIA “Nordic Plast”” (No.5.2.1.2/17/A/005).

Pictures of Nordic Plast’s new sorting line: https://failiem.lv/u/cmrxzvmqm

The largest environmental and waste management group in the Baltics AS Eco Baltia plans to execute its first unsecured bond issue in the nearest future. The proceeds from the bond issue will be used for the group’s development projects with the aim of further strengthening its contribution towards promotion of circular economy at the international level.

“Attracting financing in the capital market is a successive step in the further development of Eco Baltia. During the last two years we have restructured our business model, reorganized corporate governance structure, confidently moved towards CO2 neutrality in business and implemented large-scale investment projects that strengthened competitiveness and positions in international markets. Our business operations, goals and ambitions for growth extend well beyond the level of Latvia and even the Baltics. That’s why we are prepared to take the next step and attract financing in the capital market, confirming our development prospects and profitability,” emphasizes Māris Simanovičs, chairman of the board at Eco Baltia.

According to Vytautas Plunksnis, Partner at INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eco Baltia, the funds raised from investors would be used for acquisitions to achieve the strategic goal of developing the environmental and waste management group as a strong regional leader.

“Listing the bonds on the public market will also undoubtedly increase Eco Baltia’s visibility to investors,” says V. Plunksnis.

The issue of unsecured bonds with short to medium term maturity will be organized in one tranche and the process will be managed by one of the leading financial service providers in the Baltic States – Luminor Bank.

The issue of unsecured bonds is planned as a public offering in the near future subject to market conditions. The bonds are planned to be offered to both private and institutional investors. Bonds will be listed on “First North” alternative market of “Nasdaq Riga” after the placement.

The Baltic leading environmental management company LLC (SIA) “Eco Baltia vide”, which is part of the “Eco Baltia” group, has signed a memorandum for enhancement of cooperation in the field of development of hydrogen technologies in Latvia. Purpose of the memorandum is to promote a strong and unified development of hydrogen ecosystem and the relevant technologies, as well as to expedite implementation and capacity of hydrogen innovations, infrastructure, production and application in Latvia.

“Development of hydrogen technologies plays major role in the European Green Deal and achievement of climate neutrality goals. Necessity for the development of hydrogen technologies is further consolidated by the crisis of energy resource in Europe which has made everybody step up looking for and using alternative energy resources. As the Baltic leading environmental management company focusing on waste recycling instead of burying in landfill sites, we are already conducting research works on our part to be able to use the non-recyclable waste for gasification and later extracting also hydrogen to power our fleet. There is still a lot to do, but the memorandum marks specific steps to achieve faster and more purposeful development of these technologies in Latvia”, explains Mr Jānis Aizbalts, Chairman of the Board at the LLC (SIA) “Eco Baltia vide”.

Hydrogen is considered one of the possible global ways of decarbonisation with a huge growth potential.

Memorandum, signed along with the LLC (SIA) “Eco Baltia vide” also by more than 20 various organisations, provides for an establishment of consortium for hydrogen technology development. Purpose of the memorandum is to promote strong and unified development of hydrogen ecosystem and the relevant technologies, as well as to expedite implementation and capacity of hydrogen innovations, infrastructure, production and application in Latvia, providing an opportunity for the field of hydrogen to evolve according to the goals set by the European Union, thus both contributing to the national economy of Latvia and enhancing achievements of the climate goals.  

Furthermore establishment of the Latvian Hydrogen Alliance is planned to unify players of the sector and the related parties in a single platform for information exchange, communication, project and cooperation development both nationally and internationally.  Besides, hydrogen roadmap of Latvia for the period until the middle of 2023 and hydrogen strategy for the period until the end of 2023 will be developed.

Memorandum on the development of hydrogen technologies will be signed at the forum “5G Techritory 2022” at the beginning of December.