A trial scheme has begun involving Manchester company PVC Recycling that will see thirty prisoners at Buckley Hall prison in Rochdale sort plastics.
Around four tonnes of unsorted plastic waste, of which 85 per cent is PVC from skips, will be sorted each day by the prisoners. It will then be bought by PVC Recycling at market value from the prison.
PVC Recycling director Ian Murray said: “These are low-risk prisoners at the end of their sentences who get to learn about a day’s hard work and what it’s like to be trusted again.
“Before this scheme, it wasn’t commercially viable to process this product in the UK. It has allowed us to compete with the Chinese, and there is a clause in the contract that all the recycled PVC must be sold to UK manufacturers.
“This is a brand new revenue stream for us, and the prison makes a profit too.”
