William Barnet & Son, a specialist in the production, recycling, and trading of fibers, yarn and polymers and Albis Plastic have founded a joint venture Albis Barnet Polymers, located in Duncan, SC.

Albis Barnet Polymers will recycle, repelletize and market post-industrial raw materials, as well as use them in the compounding of Altech^ECO products. Albis and Barnet are both investing heavily in recycling technology and the product offering of sustainable compounds in near-to-prime quality.

“The joint venture unites the strengths of both partner companies—a direct market access point to post-industrial raw material qualities, repelletizing expertise, as well as compounding and product development competence. This concept will give us a competitive edge that we will implement and take advantage of globally to serve our customers even better in the future,” explains Philip Krahn, CEO, Albis Plastic.

Albis will also be constructing a production facility for engineering compounds at the joint venture site, which can initially handle a capacity of 15,000 tons per year. Completion is planned for the second quarter of 2017.

South Carolina is a hub of the U.S. automobile industry, making the site an ideal point of access to an important target market.

Albis Plastic will also take over Barnet Europe’s existing polymer business, including in particular the production sites in Obernburg, Germany and Humenné, Slovakia.

Through these investments, Albis will increase its global production capacity (compounding and repelletization) by 60,000 tons per year. The acquisitions in Europe will add 15,000 tons per year.  In North America, the joint venture will add 30,000 tons per year with an additional 15,000 tons coming from investments at the manufacturing site in Duncan, SC.