A new multi-million pound plastic milk bottle recycling line at the Closed Loop Recycling plant in Dagenham, Essex has been officially opened by UK Government Business Secretary Vince Cable.
A £12 million investment programme will make Closed Loop Recycling the biggest recycler of milk bottles in the world, according to the recycling company, which was the first in the world to recycle both PET and HDPE plastic bottles into food grade material for new food and drink packaging.
The investment 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.
The company employs more than 200 people and the expansion will increase its work force by a quarter.
Business Secretary Vince Cable described the upgraded Closed Loop Recycling plant as: “Precisely the sort of project which can support the UK’s transition to a green economy.”
Closed Loop Recycling’s chief executive Chris Dow discussed with Dr Cable the importance of increasing milk bottle and plastic bottle collection to meet demand.
“Recycled milk and water bottles are a massive win for the circular economy,” said Dow.
“We discussed with the Secretary of State and his team how we can provide economic drivers to reprocess these valuable resources in the UK, rather than being exported abroad for recycling.
“We can then work to influence recycling behaviour across the supply chain, from consumers to brands, in order to increase collection rates.”
Dow described how his company will be working with a food recycler, TEG, also based nearby at the East London Sustainable Industries Park: “We will be using waste heat from the TEG facility to heat our wash lines for our recycled plastic, making significant carbon and financial saving,” he said.
www.closedlooprecycling.co.uk
