Ginés Martínez, CEO of Reciplast: “The CDTI Innovation and FEDER funds make it easier for us to tackle sustainable waste management projects with a more ambitious vision”
When Reciplast was born in the late 1970s, recycling plastic was an activity that the industrial world barely took seriously. Today, with decades of experience and the support of CDTI Innovation and European ERDF funds, the Murcian company takes its most ambitious step: a new advanced extrusion line that will allow it to produce high-quality recycled plastic for the most demanding markets, demonstrating that waste, well worked, can become a valuable opportunity
There are companies that are born before the world is ready to understand them. Reciplast is, to some extent, one of them. When it first started in 1978, talking about a circular economy or sustainable waste management was almost a science fiction exercise in the industrial world. "The idea arises in a very natural way: to give continuity to something that has always existed, the use of resources and the reuse of materials, taking it to the industrial field," explains Ginés Martínez, CEO of the company. His parents then identified a need and, at the same time, an opportunity. Today, almost five decades later, Martínez, together with his two brothers, runs the family company that they founded, "maintaining the values that they transmitted to us: commitment and effort."
With 25 people on staff and an activity mainly concentrated in the Region of Murcia, the Valencian Community and Andalusia, Reciplast is dedicated to the collection, treatment and recovery of plastic waste, producing and marketing recycled hake of LDPE, HDPE and PP of high quality. All this under RecyClass certification and in accordance with the standards of Order TED/646, which guarantees traceability, material quality and compliance with circular economy criteria. Its main customers belong to the agriculture and packaging sectors —among them companies of the Armando Álvarez Group, Sistema Azud or Ródenas y Rivera— and its activity is today entirely national, although Martínez does not rule out opening up to international markets "in the not too distant future."
Almost half a century of recycling: what has changed
Few things better illustrate Reciplast’s trajectory than the evolution of the social perception of recycling itself. "When the company started its activity, recycling was scarcely socially recognized and was often seen simply as a waste management activity, without the environmental and strategic importance it has today," recalls Martínez. What for years was an invisible or even belittled activity is today an essential part of the solution to some of the most urgent environmental challenges on the planet. "For us, it is especially satisfying to see how something that was initially undervalued today is considered fundamental," he adds.
This route has been accompanied by a sustained technological commitment. In recent years, the company has incorporated high-energy efficiency equipment, installed photovoltaic panels to reduce its energy footprint, developed a water purification system that allows to take advantage of 100% of the water resources used in the production process and built a digital traceability tool that guarantees the control and transparency of the material throughout the value chain. They are advances that reflect a clear philosophy: continuous improvement is not a slogan, it is a way of working.
A new extruder that changes the rules of the game
In this context of permanent evolution, Reciplast has now taken one of its most ambitious steps: the implementation of a new advanced extrusion line with which the company seeks to make a qualitative leap in the quality of the recycled plastic it produces. The project, supported by the CDTI Innovation and the cofinancing of the European ERDF funds, responds to a market demand that is constantly growing and that is increasingly demanding.
"The demand for recycled plastic is growing very clearly in recent years, driven both by regulations and by greater environmental awareness," explains Martínez. But this growth is accompanied by demands that the company’s current lines, fully operational, cannot fully meet. "Today, it is no longer enough for the material to be recycled; a very stable quality is required, complete traceability of the origin of the waste and technical guarantees that allow the material to work with the same reliability as a virgin plastic," he says. And that, especially if you want to enter sectors of high added value such as food or cosmetics, requires technology that the current lines do not offer in terms of decontamination, homogenization and advanced control of the process.
The chosen solution is the Starlinger recoSTAR universal 125 VAC extruder, a device that represents, in Martínez’s words, “an important technological leap” compared to what they have now. The first and most relevant of its advances is its greater capacity for degassing and decontamination, thanks to advanced vacuum and filtration systems that allow to remove more effectively moisture, odors, inks, volatile compounds and impurities present in post-consumer plastic.
"This is essential in order to obtain a high-quality recycled material, suitable for more demanding applications," he says. Added to this is greater stability and homogeneity in the extrusion process, and a significant improvement in energy efficiency that translates into a smaller carbon footprint. "Together, this investment will allow us to move towards a more sustainable, efficient and prepared production model to respond to the new technical and regulatory requirements of the recycled plastic market," summarizes Martínez.
Reciplast works on the sustainable management of plastic waste, thus contributing to the circular economy
The challenges in a world of tensioned supply chains
No major industrial project comes to fruition without its difficulties, and this is no exception. The main obstacle that Reciplast is facing in the implementation of the new line has to do with something beyond its direct control: the manufacturing and supply deadlines for certain technological components. Tensions in global supply chains, which are affecting numerous industrial projects across Europe, have introduced uncertainty into the reception of some specific parts and equipment.
The company’s response has been pragmatic: constant coordination with the manufacturer, flexible planning and anticipation of possible delays. "Our objective is to ensure that the implementation of the line is carried out with all technical and quality guarantees, always prioritizing the reliability and correct operation of the installation," explains Martínez. Without haste that jeopardizes the result but without losing sight of the horizon.
Making possible what the market alone would not do
A project of this nature, technologically ambitious, with a significant investment and a long-term return horizon, is hardly undertaken without adequate help. At that point, the support of the CDTI Innovation and the European ERDF funds has been decisive. "This type of investment requires a significant technological and economic effort, and having this support allows us to accelerate the incorporation of more advanced technologies, improve our processes and face projects with a more ambitious and long-term vision," says Martínez.
But beyond the direct impact on Reciplast, the CEO highlights the effect that this type of financing has on the Spanish industrial fabric as a whole. "We believe that it has a very positive effect on the innovative ecosystem, especially for industrial companies that are committed to innovation and sustainability. It not only helps to modernise processes and improve competitiveness, but also drives the reduction of environmental impact and the development of solutions that generate real benefits for society, such as better use of resources and less dependence on virgin raw materials," he concludes.
Reciplast facilities in Murcia
Towards the sectors with the highest added value
The new line is not an end in itself, but the instrument that opens the door to the next Reciplast stage. Once operational, the company focuses on expanding its presence in sectors where recycled plastic has not yet found the space it deserves: fundamentally food and cosmetics, two areas with very high technical and sanitary requirements where high-quality recycled hail has much to say. "We want to remain positioned as a reference company in the recycling of high-quality plastic, combining innovation, sustainability and reliability, and demonstrating that recycled material can respond to the same levels of demand as virgin materials," says Martínez.
It is, in essence, the same conviction that led Ginés Martínez’s parents to establish RECIPLAST decades ago: that waste is not a problem, but an opportunity. Only now, with the right technology, that opportunity has more value, more scope and more future than ever.
This project also directly connects with several Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda: with SDG 12 (responsible production and consumption), by replacing virgin raw materials with recycled ones; with SDG 13 (climate action), by reducing the carbon footprint of the production process; with SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), by incorporating cutting-edge technology in the recycling industry; and with SDG 17 (partnerships to achieve the objectives), by coordinating collaboration between private enterprise and Spanish and European public funding.
Almost fifty years after a Murcian family made the bet to give plastic a second life, Reciplast wants to remain faithful to that same idea of origin. Technology has changed, markets have changed, social awareness has changed. What has not changed is the conviction that waste has value. And that this value, well worked, can be enormous.
CDTI Innovation
The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2025, within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027, the CDTI provided 2,423 million euros of support to Spanish companies and startups.
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