Plastics recycling firm ECO Plastics has celebrated sorting its billionth bottle since it reopened its 100,000 tonne-a-year capacity Hemswell plant in November last year.
The company, which has headquarters in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, had seen its 17 million plastic bottle sorting and reprocessing facility hit by a major fire in August 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, ECO Plastics said that the company was able to turn the fire to its advantage and was able to rethink the layout of the plant and assess the flow of plastics across the site.
Under the rebuild, ECO Plastics introduced Stadler, TITECH and Herbold equipment and increased its sorting capacity to its present level of 100,000 tonnes of plastics per year, which made it one of the largest plastic reprocessing facilities in Europe.
Commenting on the announcement, Jonathan Short, managing director of ECO Plastics said: It would be easy to describe this milestone as proof that its business as usual, but thats not the case.
“Weve gone far beyond the point where we were at before the fire, to the extent that the plant is now a flag-ship for the entire European industry.”
Edward Leigh, MP for Gainsborough, was on hand to throw the one billionth bottle onto the sorting line. He said: ECO Plastics is a wonderful example of a local business that has tapped into a national trend and is now benefitting as a result.
They are to be commended not only for helping the growth of low carbon packaging nationally, but for also playing a very real role in the local economy.
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And, since the rebuild, ECO Plastics has also signed a major agreement with Coca Cola Enterprises to develop a bespoke facility at the Hemswell site which will centre on increased food-grade recycled PET pellet (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Short added: Our recent deal with Coca Cola Enterprises is a first for the UK and means that we will continue to grow. Once the work has been completed during the early part of 2012, we will be able to sort 140,000 tonnes of plastic per year, almost 50% of the total number of bottles collected nationally.
Thats clearly a sizeable percentage, but given that the UK recovers less than half of the bottles used every year, there is definitely room for expansion.
“The challenge now is to make sure that we make the most of the situation, by helping people understand that plastic is a valuable resource.
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