Sort4cycle is being built at the site of the TriPlast plastics sorting facility. The highly innovative recycling plant is designed to process up to 41,000 tonnes of plastics per year. It will use fractions that, due to contamination, material diversity or particle size, have so far predominantly been sent for energy recovery. The UPCYCLE process developed and patented by ARA will be combined with a novel AI-based secondary sorting system. Commissioning is planned for mid-2027.
“Upper Austria is a strong industrial and innovation hub. Sort4cycle impressively demonstrates how economic strength and a functioning circular economy can go hand in hand. This project not only creates new technological opportunities for plastics recycling, but also adds value and creates skilled jobs in our federal state. The topping-out ceremony is an important milestone on the path to commissioning,” emphasizes Thomas Stelzer, Governor of Upper Austria.
Secretary General Johannes Abentung also underlines the importance of the project: “To achieve the European recycling targets, we must further expand the material recycling of resources. Sort4cycle addresses precisely those areas where recycling has so far reached its limits and creates the conditions for turning plastic fractions that have previously been predominantly used for energy recovery back into raw materials. In this way, we are strengthening the circular economy and security of raw material supply.”
Construction progress marks the next milestone
With the completion of the structural shell, the plant is now visibly taking shape. The site was deliberately chosen directly next to the existing TriPlast sorting facility. This allows existing material streams to be used and plastics processing at the site to be expanded further. Since 2024, TriPlast has processed up to 100,000 tonnes of material from the Yellow Bag and Yellow Bin collection systems per year.
“A topping-out ceremony is traditionally a special moment for everyone involved in a construction project. We are therefore all the more pleased to celebrate this important construction milestone today together with our employees and the construction companies involved. With Sort4cycle, we are consistently developing the Ennshafen site further and creating the conditions for even more efficient use of valuable raw materials,” says Kurt Bernegger, Managing Director of Bernegger GmbH.
