Minister welcomes Closed Loop expansion plans

Business minister Mark Prisk has welcomed an announcement by plastic recycling firm Closed Loop that it is planning to almost double the processing capacity of its East London plant.

The company, which reprocesses mixed plastic bottles into food-contact plastic packaging, said today (January 31) that it intends to invest £12 million on increasing its processing capacity at its Dagenham site from its current 35,000 tonnes-a-year capacity to 60,000 tonnes-a-year.

Under a joint agreement with the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Closed Loop plans to purchase three acres of land adjacent to its existing site in order to build the brand new factory extension.

Business minister Mark Prisk, who has previously met with Closed Loop managing director Chris Dow to discuss green job opportunities, welcomed the announcement.

In a statement supplied to Closed Loop, he said: “I welcome the news that Closed Loop Recycling will double the side of its plan and create 50 advanced manufacturing jobs in East London. This is a good example of how we can create sustainable economic growth through the green economy.”

The expansion is intended to complement ambitious plans by bottle manufacturer Britvic to expand its own operations. Britvic uses recycled content developed by Closed Loop in its Drench range of water bottles (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Dow commented: “There is massive demand amongst major brand owners for more sustainable packaging solutions and this expansion further enhances the UK's fast growing sustainable industry.

“It is the increased demand for rPET [recycled PET] and rHDPE [recycled HDPE] from big brand owners and packaging companies, as well as better collection rates and increased recycle by consumers, that is continue to drive the market for food grade plastics.”

Expansion

Today's announcement indicates that Closed Loop has prioritised development in the capital over other expansion plans.

The firm previously outlined plans to accrue £30 million in order to develop a 50,000 tonnes-a-year capacity plant at Deeside in North Wales, with work on the plant was expected to start in ‘early 2011' (see letsrecycle.com story).

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, a spokeswoman for Closed Loop said the firm still intends to develop the North Wales plant but was keen to take up further development at Dagenham. “It is still on the cards,” she said. “This is just too good an opportunity at Dagenham to miss, so it was a no-brainer to develop it.”

Construction on the site is likely to begin in autumn 2011 and create 50 new jobs.