UK-based recycling company Viridor has announced plans to build a £65m plastics recycling plant adjacent to the company’s waste-to-energy plant located in Avonmouth.
Image: Viridor’s plastics recycling plant will be powered by electricity generated using non-recyclable waste. Photo: courtesy of Viridor.
Currently under construction near Bristol, the £252m Avonmouth energy-recovery facility uses non-recyclable waste as its fuel, while the resulting electricity will power the new plastic recycling plant.
Viridor said that the multi-polymer plant is expected to produce 60 kilo tonnes per annum (ktpa) of recycled plastic a year from 81ktpa feedstock (1.6 billion bottles, pots, tubs and trays), in the first year upon commissioning.
The capacity will increase to 63ktpa of recycled material from 89ktpa (1.7 billion bottles, pots, tubs and trays) of feedstock in year three, the firm noted.
Viridor’s parent company Pennon CEO Chris Loughlin said: “By using waste which cannot be recycled as the fuel to create low carbon electricity which will power plastics recycling we are creating a truly resource and energy-efficient waste management solution.
“There is a clear ambition from both UK consumers and politicians to improve recycling rates and reduce the amount of waste which is sent to export.
“Our research shows that 80% of people believe the UK should find a way to deal with its own recycling without having to ship it to other countries.”
Scheduled to be commissioned in 2020/21, the recycling plant will be equipped to produce recycled materials such as rPET, rHDPE and rPP in flake and pellet form.
Pennon corporate affairs and investor relations director Sarah Heald said: “As one of the South West’s largest private sector investors and employers we are delighted to be able to invest in a South West recycling powerhouse which will significantly reduce the amount of plastic sent to landfill and help to protect the environment.”
Recently, Viridor has signed a contract for the processing of 5,000 tonnes per year of recycling sacks, shopping bags and plastic films per year.
The material from Crayford, Milton Keynes, Masons and Plymouth material recovery facilities (MRFs) will be sent to the Gloucestershire LDPE film reprocessor KS Plastics.