Dagenham, UK-based recycler Closed Loop Recycling is significantly expanding its HDPE recycling capabilities.
According to the company, the move enables it to fully meet the demands of the dairy industry, which is said to be requiring increasingly high levels of rHDPE in its milk bottles.
Closed Loop Recycling – the first in the world to recycle both PET and HDPE plastic bottles into food grade material for new food and drink packaging – is implementing a major expansion which will double the supply of recycled HDPE to the UK market, “more than meeting the expected demand from the dairy industry” as the company works towards higher recycled content targets.
The investment in new infrastructure will make Closed Loop Recycling the biggest recycler of milk bottles in the world, the company says.
It will increase capacity at the Dagenham-based plant to 55,000 tonnes per annum, creating the “most advanced plastics purification facility in the UK” and diverting a further 30,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in the process.
Closed Loop Recycling CEO Chris Dow says: “Recycled milk bottles are a massive win for the circular economy.
“The increased demand for recycled content is an example of the whole industry working together – retailers, producers, brands and industry bodies – to implement an ambitious plan.”
This, Dow says, has created a sustainable business model with “enormous potential” for the future.
Dow adds that there has been a “huge commitment” from the companies in the sector, including its own customers, who have invested in technology and plants to complete the HDPE recycling loop.
“I am confident that our expansion will bring the 2020 target of 50% recycled material in plastic bottles closer,” he says.
As a result of a joint agreement with the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC), Closed Loop Recycling has leased an additional three acres adjacent to its existing Dagenham site to help facilitate any future expansion, in order to realise its growth plans and meet demand for recycled food grade products.
Operating since December 2008, Closed Loop Recycling’s Dagenham plant currently has the capacity to produce 35,000 tonnes of mixed plastic bottles, producing 11,000 tonnes of rPET and 6,000 tonnes of rHDPE per annum.
