Greenstar WES intends to use the funding to add a 20,000 tonne-a-year capacity facility to its plant at Redcar on Teesside, which will be used to reprocess mixed plastic material from households and local authorities in the surrounding areas.
James Donaldson, founder and managing director of Greenstar WES, said: “Our new mixed plastics plant will be able to process natural and mixed colour polypropylene, polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate in addition to PVC and PS, all sourced from domestic recycling collections.”
The WES facility at the Wilton Industrial Complex on Teesside currently has a 12,000 tonnes-a-year capacity and mainly processes polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene. Construction of the mixed plastic facility is set to begin in 2011, with the firm hopeful of having it fully operational by 2013.
Greenstar WES was formed in March 2007 when waste management firm Greenstar UK purchase a 75% share in Waste Exchange Services as part of a strategic array of purchases undertaken by the Irish-owned firm (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mixed Plastic
The mixed plastic capital grant scheme was launched off the back of research published by WRAP that showed that the collection and reprocessing of mixed plastics – such as margarine tubs, yoghurt pots and meat trays – was economically and technically viable (see letsrecycle.com story). Traditionally, mixed plastics have not been widely collected for recycling.
Marcus Gover, director for market development at WRAP, said: “We were delighted with the quality of the bids for this grant. Mixed plastic packaging is an extremely visible waste stream, and householders increasingly want it to be recycled in the same way as other packaging materials such as glass, paper, plastic bottles and cans, which are widely recycled.”
WRAP hopes that the capacity added to the Greenstar WES facility will encourage other plastics recycling facilities in the region to contemplate the addition of mixed plastic reprocessing capacity.
Mr Gover added: “It has a value as a recycled material and it does not make economic or environmental sense to dispose of it in landfill. We're looking forward to the extra domestic capacity WES Greenstar will add with this new facility.”
The grant issued to Greenstar WES is part of WRAP's long-term aim to boost the recycling of mixed plastics, which the organisation said is “still limited” despite 216,000 tonnes of plastic bottles being collected for recycling in the UK annually.
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