What Starlinger does

Starlinger & Co Gesellschaft m.b.H., headquartered in Vienna, Austria, is a privately held, family-owned engineering company founded in 1835 that designs and manufactures capital equipment for two integrated value chains: woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling. The company's machinery portfolio spans the full production stack—tape extrusion (starEX), circular weaving (RX 6.1pro, Omega 1000), coating, printing, and conversion (ad*starKON, pp*starKON X)—together with proprietary recycling systems (recoSTAR PET art, recoSTAR dynamic art) and melt-phase decontamination reactors (viscoZERO). Flagship end-products include AD*STAR® block bottom valve bags and PP*STAR® pinch-bottom bags, with branded FIBCs made from recycled PP or PET tape fabric.

Starlinger serves industrial packaging manufacturers producing bags for cement, rice, flour, sugar, fertilizers, and animal feed, alongside plastic recyclers converting post-consumer and post-industrial waste into food-grade rPET, rPP, and rHDPE. The group reported revenue exceeding €450 million in fiscal year 2023/2024 and employs over 1,200 people across 16 offices and manufacturing sites in Austria, China, the United States, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Subsidiaries include Georg Sahm (spooling technology, acquired 2002), STC Spinnzwirn (textile machinery, acquired 2018), and associated companies unistrap, UNIMAS, and uniROTA Maplan Schwerin.

The business model rests on enterprise direct sales of high-value capital equipment, supplemented by after-sales service, operator training, project engineering, and financing solutions. Starlinger holds over 120 EFSA positive opinions and multiple FDA clearances for food-contact recycled materials—regulatory assets that materially constrain competitor entry into food-grade recycling. Customers include Ismail Resin (40,000 tons PET/year), DUYTAN (expanding to 100,000 tons), BariQ (MENA's largest PET recycler), and Srichakra Polyplast (India's first 100% rPET beverage bottle producer), with end-beverage-brand validation from Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé.

Name

Starlinger

Legal name

Starlinger & Co Gesellschaft m.b.H.

Website

https://starlinger.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1835

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Starlinger is an Austrian family-owned engineering company founded in 1835 that supplies capital equipment and complete production lines for woven plastic packaging (tape extrusion, circular looms, conversion) and plastics recycling (PET bottle-to-bottle and post-consumer systems), serving industrial packaging manufacturers and recyclers across 16 global offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Packaging Machinery

NAICS

Packaging Machinery Manufacturing (333993)

SIC

Printing Trades Machinery & Equipment (3555)

akta.pro primary industry

Recycling Equipment & Turnkey Reprocessing Systems (Extruders, Wash Lines) (IMANAMAI)

Keywords

• Woven plastic packaging machinery
• Plastic recycling systems
• Circular looms
• Tape extrusion lines
• PET bottle-to-bottle recycling

Headquarters

HQ city

Vienna

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices17 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Capital Equipment Sales: Sale of machinery for woven plastic packaging production including circular looms, tape extrusion lines, conversion machines, coating and printing equipment. One-time capital equipment sales to industrial customers.
2. Plastics Recycling Systems: Sale of plastic recycling machinery including PET bottle-to-bottle systems, post-consumer recycling lines, and related equipment.
3. After-Sales Service & Support: Committed service team providing after-sales support, operator trainings, and continuous production optimization for Starlinger customers.
4. Project Engineering & Financing: Project engineering services and financing solutions offered to customers for complete packaging production facilities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Starlinger manufactures and supplies capital machinery and complete production lines for woven plastic packaging production (tape extrusion, circular looms, coating, printing, and conversion into AD*STAR and PP*STAR bags) and for plastics recycling (PET bottle-to-bottle, post-consumer, and post-industrial recycling systems). The company sells complete turnkey plants directly to industrial packaging manufacturers and recyclers, complemented by project engineering, financing solutions, and after-sales service.

Product overview

Starlinger is the world's leading supplier of machinery for woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling. The company operates two main divisions: Packaging (producing machinery for tape extrusion, circular looms, coating, printing, and conversion) and Recycling Technology (producing bottle-to-bottle and post-consumer recycling systems). Key product lines include the recoSTAR PET art for food-grade PET recycling, recoSTAR dynamic for post-consumer plastics, starEX tape extrusion lines, Omega/RX circular looms, and ad*starKON/pp*starKON conversion systems. The company also produces branded packaging products including AD*STAR and PP*STAR bags. Through its viscotec division, Starlinger offers decontamination reactors and SSP technology. The company is the only A to Z turnkey provider offering the complete range of technologies for closed packaging loops - from plastic packaging production to plastics recycling. The group includes subsidiaries Georg Sahm (spooling) and STC Spinnzwirn (textile machinery).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AD*STAR: Block bottom valve bag made from woven polypropylene tape fabric - flagship product for packaging dry bulk goods like cement
• IC*STAR
• PP*STAR
• recoSTAR
• viscotec
• FIBC

Products and services

• recoSTAR PET art PET bottle-to-bottle recycling system that converts post-consumer PET bottles into food-grade recycled PET granules. Designed for beverage and food packaging manufacturers and recyclers, with EFSA scientific opinion under EU 2022/1616.
• recoSTAR dynamic art Post-consumer plastics recycling system for heavily contaminated and moist input materials including film waste, fibers, and foamed plastics. For plastic recyclers handling demanding post-consumer streams.
• recoSTAR dynamic

Quantifiable outcome

• 25% reduction in energy consumption per kg
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, supporting and minor.

• Bachmann GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Swiss Bachmann Group collaborated with Sesotec, Starlinger Viscotec, Krones, and PET-MAN on the PAC2PAC project, creating a closed-loop recycling system for PET packaging in Switzerland. The project achieved a tripling of recycling rates for Swiss collection bags, enabling food-grade PET to be reintroduced into the packaging cycle.
• SesotecsupportingTechnology or Integration · 3 February 2026Partner in PAC2PAC project providing AI-based sorting technology (VARISORT+ UNITY with OBJECT-AI) for distinguishing between food-grade and non-food-grade PET from mixed collection bags.
• KronessupportingTechnology or Integration · 3 February 2026Partner in PAC2PAC project contributing processing equipment for the closed-loop PET packaging recycling system.
• PET-MANsupportingTechnology or Integration · 3 February 2026Partner in PAC2PAC project for PET packaging recycling in Switzerland.
• Georg Sahm GmbH & Co. KGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Since 2002, Georg Sahm has been part of the Starlinger Group. Sahm is a specialist and technology leader in high-performance fibers, carbon fibers, and cut film tapes for the converting industry.
• STC Spinnzwirn GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018In 2018, Starlinger Group acquired the Barmag Spinnzwirn business unit from Oerlikon in Chemnitz. It became the independent company STC (Starlinger Textilmaschinen Chemnitz) Spinnzwirn GmbH.
• unistrap GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociated company of the Starlinger Group based in Weissenbach, Austria.
• UNIMAS GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociated company of the Starlinger Group based in Sopron, Hungary.
• uniROTA Maplan Schwerin GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociated company of the Starlinger Group based in Schwerin, Germany.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H): German-based market leader and Starlinger's most direct head-to-head competitor in machinery for flexible plastic packaging production, including extrusion, printing, and conversion lines for woven and film-based packaging.
• EREMA Group: Austrian-headquartered global leader in plastic recycling machinery, providing direct competition to Starlinger's recoSTAR PET and recoSTAR dynamic lines for bottle-to-bottle and post-consumer recycling applications.
• SML Maschinengesellschaft: Austrian peer in extrusion and converting machinery for woven plastic packaging, directly competing with Starlinger's starEX tape extrusion and conversion product portfolio.
• Sorema (Previero): Italian supplier of turnkey plastic recycling washing and reprocessing lines; competes head-to-head with Starlinger's recoSTAR dynamic art for heavily contaminated post-consumer and post-industrial film recycling applications.

Broad incumbents

• Krones AG: German global leader in beverage and packaging processing equipment, an indirect competitor in the plastic packaging value chain and a PAC2PAC project partner alongside Starlinger, with overlapping customer relationships in beverage recycling.
• Bühler Group: Swiss technology group with broad machinery portfolios across food, feed, and advanced materials, serving overlapping industrial packaging customers and providing optionality for capacity additions in adjacent process equipment.
• Reifenhäuser Group: German family-owned leader in extrusion technology for film, sheet, and nonwovens; competes with Starlinger in plastics processing machinery and serves overlapping customers in industrial film and woven applications.
• TOMRA: Norwegian-based sensor-based sorting and collection technology leader whose systems underpin the front end of plastic recycling facilities; complementary to Starlinger's recoSTAR recycling lines, with both companies co-served by the same brand-owner recycling build-outs.
• SACMI Group: Italian multi-business machinery group offering packaging machinery, closures, and related process equipment; overlaps with Starlinger in industrial packaging customers but operates a broader portfolio beyond woven plastics.
• Hosokawa Alpine: German-Japanese machinery specialist in plastics processing, film extrusion, and size reduction; competes with Starlinger in film and tape extrusion applications for downstream packaging converters.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/StarlingerCo
• Facebookfacebook.com/StarlingerCo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/about

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Starlinger