This comes as Biffa sets itself the target of quadrupling its plastic recycling capacity by 2030.
Mick Davis, chief operating officer for the recourses and energy division at Biffa, said: “Doubling the amount of materials we can recycle at one of the country’s largest plastic recycling facilities is great news both for Biffa and the UK as a whole.
“It means more recycling can happen on our own shores and creates sustainable materials that can be used in manufacturing.
“The additional capacity is a significant investment in our business within the North East and further establishes Biffa as a leader in in closed-loop plastic recycling.”
Built in 2008, Biffa says its Aldridge MRF diverts 150,000 tonnes of waste a year from landfill by turning it into saleable commodities. As well as plastic bottles and containers, the facility can process aluminium and steel cans and glass bottles and jars from a household recycling stream.
Sorting
Biffa says it is partnering with recycling equipment and plant manufacturer Turmec to install Pellenc optical sorters to sort material as part of the upgrade at the Aldridge MRF.
“Doubling the amount of materials we can recycle at one of the country’s largest plastic recycling facilities is great news both for Biffa and the UK as a whole”
All plastic grades from the Aldridge facility will be used to feed Biffa’s new and existing polymer’s facilities.
The company says Aldridge will have the technology to remove multilayer food trays and produce a high-grade PET plastic for Biffa’s £27.5 million Seaham facility.
Biffa officially opened its recycling plant for PET plastics in Seaham, County Durham, in January 2020 (see letsrecycle.com story). The facility converts plastic recycling into pellets to be sold on to drinks makers and other manufacturers.
Aldridge
Biffa has invested in sensor-based sorting technology from TOMRA at its Aldridge MRF in October 2019 to sort and recover the target fractions of PET, PE, mixed plastics and metals (see letsrecycle.com story).
In June 2015, Biffa invested £3.1 million in glass cleaning technology at its MRFs at Aldridge and Edmonton in North London (see letsrecycle.com story).
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