Work is nearing completion on waste management firm Biffa's first dedicated mixed plastic sorting and reprocessing facility at its Redcar site, near Middlesbrough.
Biffa Polymers is the former Greenstar WES having been rebranded following the sale of Greenstar UK to the owners of waste management firm Biffa in August 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
March opening
Sembcorp Utilities, which owns the Wilton site, announced in December 2010 that the mixed plastic plant was set to be operational in “early next year” and plastics industry reports have narrowed this date to March 2011.
The new plant will process residues from the plastic bottle fraction, such as natural and mixed colour polypropylene, polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate in addition to PVC and PS. The material is expected to be sourced from kerbside collections.
Funding for the plant has been aided by £1.187 million from WRAP's £2 million mixed plastic grant competition and a further £55,000 from regional development agency One North East (see letsrecycle.com story).
Capacity
Mixed plastics have been an area of increased focus among recycling organisations and plastic recycling bodies – with trade body Recoup wary of increased collections at the kerbside without the necessary sorting capacity being in place (see letsrecycle.com story). Local authorities have come under pressure to offer services to residents who have often questioned why yoghurt pots cannot be recycled while milk bottles can be.
The mixed plastic reprocessing facility will sit on the same site as an existing food grade plastic manufacturing facility – where bottle plastic is cleaned extensively and granulated in order to be used in food-contact packaging.
The food grade plant primarily handles recycled HDPE. This is then used in the creation of milk bottles by packaging manufacturing firm Nampak, which is the main supplier of plastic milk bottles to a large number of leading supermarkets and retailers (see letsrecycle.com story).
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