Biffa opens the UK’s first sorting and processing facility for mixed plastics creating 28 green jobs in Redcar, Middlesbrough.
Biffa Polymers is pleased to announce the opening of the UK’s first fully integrated sorting and recycling facility for mixed plastic packaging.
The facility won £1.187 million in funding from WRAP in January 2010, following WRAP research which demonstrated the environmental benefits, commercial and technological viability for mixed plastics recycling.
Located in Redcar, Middlesbrough, the facility is the first of its kind in the UK enabling mixed plastics to be sorted, washed and processed into a reusable high grade commodity. Further enabling people to recycle more plastics.
The Redcar facility will begin to process 15,000 tonnes of mixed plastics per year from April 2011, building up to the full capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year by April 2012. It will process plastics from Biffa MRFs, as well as local authorities and commercial customers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The new facility has created 28 new local jobs, aiding the development of the green economy in the North East.
The plastics are sorted by polymer type and colour, and then processed to produce a high quality output which is then suitable for a wide range of end uses where the environmental benefits are unlocked through replacing the use of virgin plastic. Examples of new products include paint trays, plant pots, storage boxes, pallets, bottles, car parts, office furniture and kitchenware. In addition some of the output will be processed through Biffa’s food grade HDPE recycling facility at the same site and go back into the manufacture of new milk bottles. Biffa Polymers managing director Martin Marron said: “Following the success of being the first company in the UK to produce food grade recycled HDPE plastic which is used to make new milk bottles, Biffa Polymers is delighted to be once again at the forefront of the recycling industry. We believe in pushing the boundaries to find the best solutions for plastic recycling in the UK.”
Source: Bffa Polymers