UK plastics recycler begins exporting to drive up quality

The Chinese sister companies of London-based AGP (also known as AGYPLAS) were previously buying imported material from traders who earn commission by selling imported material on behalf of various exporters, once it arrives at Chinese ports.

Instead AGP, a firm which has bought and reprocessed waste plastic with partners in the UK for five years, has decided to diversify into the exporting business. This means it will buy material from UK factories and companies and export it straight to its own reprocessing factories, in a bid to drive up quality.

AGP purchasing director Thomas Gere said AGP and its sister companies in China, who operate as the Jiacheng group will now have full “traceability” of where the material – an estimated 25,000 tonnes a year – has been sourced.

Quality

He added: “This is very important as instead of not knowing 100% what we are buying through traders and having to come back to them with claims, we are now buying directly from the waste management company or factory.

“We can therefore choose what is possible to buy. There are no more grey areas and no risk of being sold far lower grades, such as kerbside collected material – which we did not order – instead of clean plastics.”

AGP, which is part of the Agyl group which specialises in environmental services, believes this will benefit UK plastics collectors. Mr Gere explained: “We can offer market feedback regarding materials and how UK companies can improve their sorting processes. We can also offer higher prices for the material because there are no traders who need to make commission.”

The company, which has reprocessing plants in China and Hong Kong, believes it is the first company to take this approach, which Mr Gere said was based around quality not quantity.

He explained: “We are interested in quality not volume. There were cases last year of contaminated material being exported to China and I believe this is the negative impact of people who care only about exporting volume.”

Mr Gere said the new approach took on added significance following the implementation of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations in July, which tightened up export regulations governing waste.

The company presently buys all types of commercial plastics but also HDPE waste consumer bottles from London-based Community Waste, which has a materials recycling facility in Milton Keynes. It hopes to diversify further and export more post-consumer bottles and is in talks with Remade Essex, a organisation which helps develop markets for the recycling industry, to tap into the county's supply of bottles collected from kerbside and bring banks .