This means that the plant, which used to handle 25,000 tonnes of HDPE and PET bottles a year, now has the capacity to handle 100,000 tonnes of bottles from local authorities and commercial businesses throughout the UK.
And, the company also plans to have equipment capable of producing food grade plastic in place by January 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Separation
At the AWS site, bottles are delabelled, granulated and washed, with the resulting flakes sent on for use in new plastic products including fleece jackets, piping and packaging.
The firm then produces PET and HDPE flakes for customers in Europe and the Far East and aims to use the expanded site to produce high quality ‘superclean' plastic flakes.
Jonathan Short, chief executive of AWS, said: “Britain has lagged behind Europe in the recycling of plastic. There is currently very little recycling of mixed plastics as the capacity to reprocess has been limited.
“Our new plant with its considerable extra capacity can take plastic waste from local councils, supermarkets and other users of plastic and recycle it into flakes of the highest quality for use in general manufacturing and plastic bags,” he added.
Technology
Receiving bottles from local authorities and commercial businesses across the UK, Mr Short explained that the company went “all the way up to Aberdeen and all the way down to Plymouth” to collect bottles.
Once collected, these are then segregated into individual streams using optical sorting technology from TiTech and a Stadler ballistic separator – which sorts the bottles depending on how they bounce.
Mr Short said: “WRAP reported that this is the most environmentally friendly combination and we have found it the most efficient. We now have the ability to sort the individual streams, which before would have been sold on for reprocessing or had to be landfilled.”
AWS received £6 million in investment at the end of July – £1 million from the Sustainable Technology Fund (STF) and £5 million from private investment company Robeco – as part of its aim to become the world's largest plastic recycler with food grade capability.
Food Grade
The next stage of development at the Hemswell plant will see the recycling firm install a new processing line, which will enable it to sort and process recycled plastics to the standard required by the food industry.
Mr Short said: “There is nobody in the UK recycling industry making food grade plastics in any quantity which represents a huge opportunity for us. Until very recently no-one in the UK has been able to produce recycled plastic which was clean enough and odour free to be turned into food or drink packaging.
“This is a major breakthrough and is something supermarkets have been seeking for sometime as they strive to meet their recycling targets,” he added.
Mr Short added that the next phase of development would cost in the region of £4 million between now and the end of the year, with the company hopeful of producing food grade plastic by the beginning of next year.
AWS also announced its intention to open further plants throughout the UK and in Europe.
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