Jayplas to build £39m plastics recycling plant in Wales

The consultation comes ahead of a proposed full planning application to Merthyr Tydfil council for the £39 million plant.

If approved, the facility will process around 75,000 tonnes per year of waste film, including MRF film, and a similar amount of rigid plastics such as bottles and pots, tubs and trays (PTT).

This will be sourced from local authorities as well as the commercial and industrial sector.

Jayplas says the plant will provide 110 direct employment opportunities, 44 indirect chain jobs and £39 million of inward capital investment.

Subject to approval, Jayplas says the plant is expected to be operational in spring 2023.

Speaking with letsrecycle.com, Mike Maxwell, operations director at Jayplas, said: “We are very excited to unveil this plant, and it has been in the making for a number of years. This plant will be the first of its kind in the UK to process both rigid and film at the same site.”

Carbon savings

The plastic recycling company, which operates nine recycling and recycled product manufacturing sites across the UK, says the plant will also save around 155,000 tonnes of carbon per year which is the equivalent to 62,249 cars taken off the road.

The plant would also, according to Jayplas, enhance zero waste to landfill drives, reduce the need to export plastics out of the UK and utilise a large vacant site for employment uses.

It would also provide an additional source of recycled packaging to Wales, and will be based on land which is currently vacant off Goat Mill Road, to the west of the A4060.

Site

The facility will feature two individual warehouse units, with a reserved expansion area for a third.

These units will house various plant and machinery equipment to enable recycling and processing of different types of plastic to produce “close loop products”.

Processed plastic will be stored externally in bales prior to onward removal.

The site is expected to be developed in two phases; phase 1 (building 1) will comprise the Plastics Recycling Facility (PRF) and phase 2 (building 2) includes the polymer wash plants. Phase 1 is expected to begin construction Spring 2022.

It is envisaged that the internal operations of the recycling operation will operate continuously 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

The capacity of the plant will be split between rigid and film.

It is understood the Welsh government is supportive of the plant to ensure there is an outlet for Welsh local authorities to send waste plastic to, but details of financial support have not been disclosed.

It is likely the plant will also accept feedstock from Southern England and. Midlands

Jayplas

Established in 1975 and with almost 40 years of experience in the plastic recycling industry, Jayplas is one of the UK’s market-leaders in post-consumer recycling.

The company has partnered with the Co-operative to process “Europe’s most extensive” in-store recycling scheme for plastic bags and product wrapping earlier this year (see letsrecycle.com story).

This will see material collected at recycling units in 1,500 Co-op stores this month and 2,300 stores by November being processed by Jayplas.

In July, the company also partnered with Exeter city council to produce new polythene recycling sacks made from waste film collected by the authority in a ‘closed loop’ project (see letsrecycle.com story).