A new plant is opening in Neufchâteau to recycle 40,000 tonnes of PET a year into reusable material for the food industry. MOPET will process transparent bottles, but also, a first for Belgium, opaque bottles and PET trays: two of the most complex streams from the PMD bag.
What sets MOPET apart from existing PET recycling?
Recycling transparent bottles is well established today. Opaque bottles (such as milk bottles) and PET trays are trickier: their composition makes sorting and recycling more complex, and until now, industrial end markets were limited.
MOPET tackles both streams:
- 17,500 tonnes of transparent and opaque PET bottles a year
- 10,500 tonnes of PET trays from the PMD bag a year
The result: food-grade r-PET, ready to become raw material for new packaging.
An investment with human and industrial impact
Morssinkhof Rymoplast is investing €68.5 million in this first phase, with support from IDELUX. The plant will create 90 direct jobs in the Province of Luxembourg, with an extension to 125 posts planned over time, the largest job-creating project in the region since 2015.
Belgium is recycling more and more on its own territory
MOPET reinforces a broader trend: in 2025, Belgium processed almost six times more household plastic packaging locally than four years earlier, up from 13,463 to 74,236 tonnes. It complements initiatives such as FILAO, Fromto, ECOO Recycling and Plastics2Chemicals.
For Fost Plus, this proves that long-term contracts, with guaranteed volumes and quality, make these industrial investments possible, even in a European recycling sector under pressure from competition with virgin plastic and high energy costs.
Every tray or opaque bottle sorted through the PMD bag now finds a second life locally. A second phase, incorporating CuRe technology for the most complex PET streams, is already under study.
