An extra 15,000 tonnes of rigid plastic packaging will be recycled in the UK following a WRAP loan of £1.15 million to ECO Plastics.
This will enable the Lincolnshire-based company to recycle a total of 150,000 tonnes of plastics annually.
WRAP said that the investment will complement the joint venture that ECO Plastics has with Coca-Cola last year, and will mean that the company will be able to process rigid plastic packaging such as tubs, pots and trays as well as plastic bottles.
This follows WRAP’s funding of the Biffa Polymers plant in Redcar in 2010 and is part of WRAP’s aim to increase the UK’s capacity to recycle its rigid plastic packaging by 100,000 tonnes per year through the Mixed Plastics Loan Fund.
Environment Minister Lord Taylor said: “I’m delighted to see this investment in ECO Plastics. It will increase the amount of plastic that gets recycled by 15,000 tonnes, helping to protect the environment and save businesses money by cutting back on their use of raw materials. The recycling industry is growing and we’re working to help companies gain a foothold in this exciting new marketplace which will help us become a zero-waste economy.”
WRAP director of the closed loop economy programme Marcus Gover said: “Recycling is a great British industry and this funding represents a further confidence boost. Getting the right reprocessing infrastructure in place is crucial to turning the developing interest in mixed plastics collections from local authorities into a reality. I’d encourage anyone with an interest in recycling plastic packaging to check the criteria of our Mixed Plastics Loan Fund.”
ECO Plastics managing director Jonathan Short added: “The processing of non-bottle rigid plastics packaging is the next logical step in UK plastics recycling infrastructure. But it is vitally important that we don’t run before we can walk. The processing infrastructure must be in place before we encourage further non-bottle rigid plastics collection across the UK. Even after this investment, current collections far outweigh the available processing capacity, which remains a serious risk to the whole industry.”
