The spending comes as the prices for used plastics materials continue to fall in the wake of declining oil prices, although sector experts have told letsrecycle.com that the sector should not be too anxious about the current market.
The capital investment news comes from OnePlastics Group and Jayplas.
Ireland’s OnePlastics Group, which bought Straight plc last year, has announced that it has invested a “seven figure sum” in Straight to help in its drive to develop “innovative recycling products” for UK households such as its 3Box Stack. The new investment will see new machines at the Straight factory in Hull.
And, separately, Corby-based plastics recycler Jayplas has announced plans for a £2.5 million investment in new extrusion, print and conversion equipment for its packaging division which will be installed in January 2016.
Straight
The Straight funds have been used to acquire two new injection moulding machines made by Engel for Straight’s Hull factory, and, said OnePlastics Group, “will allow the company to increase production and lead the market by developing further innovative recycling products”.
The group added that this was part of an ongoing strategy to drive long-term organic growth in the six businesses, which includes Straight, which are part of its portfolio. A few months earlier it invested another seven figure sum on new machinery at Rotherham-based MGB Plastics.
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Karl Stillman, OnePlastics Group sales director, said: “OnePlastics Group is committed to innovation and leading the market with products that will revolutionise the recycling and waste management industry.
“Straight has made a substantial investment in new product innovations over the years such as new faster cycling tooling for its kerbside box, the 3Box Stack and food waste caddy ranges and this investment will help continue this drive.
“We are confident that our ongoing investment programme will enable us to consolidate our leadership position in our chosen markets for all the businesses in the OnePlastics Group for many years to come.”
Jayplas
Plastics recycler Jayplas, which has its headquarter in Corby, has announced plans for a £2.5 million investment in new extrusion, print and conversion equipment for its packaging division which will be installed in January 2016.
This will enable the firm to increase production capacity by more than 7,500 tonnes per year as part of an initiative to allow retailers to provide printed bags-for-life from their own plastic waste and demonstrate their sustainability efforts to their customers. The expansion is in part down to the requirement from October this year for a charge to be imposed in England for single use carrier bags.
The bags-for-life expansion is the second major investment by Jayplas in the last 18 months, following the creation of its new packaging division which saw a multi-million pound investment in a new extrusion and printing plant in Worksop.
Jayplas operations director Michael Maxwell said: “Sustainable plastics recycling is a big issue and recycling their own plastic waste helps our customers provide the sustainability credentials their consumers are demanding.
“Our new investment is a direct response to the retail industry’s need for larger levels of sustainability within their own supply chain and it shows that Jayplas continues to lead the development of the UK’s recycling infrastructure to meet the high demand for quality recycled plastics and packaging.”
Market view
Despite the investment by Straight and Jayplas, there remain concerns in the domestic market about plastics recycling. Prices have fallen this month but so far it seems that those in the marketplace do not consider that the situation warrants being seen as a crisis, despite recent reductions in the value.
Roger Baynham, chair of the British Plastics Federations recycling group, said: “I would say that the impact of the devaluation in China probably hasn’t impacted on the waste sector hear.
“There was a certain amount of consensus about the impact of the falling oil prices six months ago, but we have seen polymer prices rebound since quarter one.”
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This improvement in polymer prices is seen as being due in part to limited production capacity within the market for virgin polymer materials.”
Mr Baynham added that the uncertainty over export values and markets meant that there continued to be a need for development of sustainable markets for waste plastics in the UK.
Paul Briggs, managing director of Nottingham-based Mark Lyndon, which is a major supplier of used cardboard to Chinese mills, said there “is no crisis whatsoever” in reference to the decline in the value of the Chinese yuan. For some sectors, he said, this will be more noticeable, such as for prestige cars, but generally the sum will be absorbed into the marketplace.
“The exchange rate moves for us all every week and generally there is a global price for paper that handles currency changes.”
[…] Two substantial capital investments have been revealed by businesses producing recycled plastic products against a background of concern over exports of scrap plastic to China. […]