MBA Polymers founder and former CEO rejoin company

MBA Polymers, based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, U.K. has announced that Richard McCombs has returned to the company as CEO and Dr. Mike Biddle, founder of the plastics recycling company, will return in a consulting role.

McCombs replaces Nigel Hunton, who has served as CEO since January 2012.

McCombs and Biddle built three commercial scale facilities for MBA and are both looking forward to further growth in the future, the company says.

"I've been working with quite a few CleanTech companies since stepping away from MBA over three years ago, and it's even more apparent to me how remarkable it is that MBA was able to build three world-class plants in three different countries to deploy its technology and business models and produce MBA-branded resins that have been embraced by the global plastics industry for their quality as well as their environmental credentials," McCombs says. "I'm very pleased to be asked to take MBA to the next level."

Biddle adds, "I've been working to develop plastics recycling technology and businesses for over 25 years, and I've never been more excited about the growth prospects for this industry. With MBA's proven technology, world-class facilities and widely recognized market brand, the company is in an excellent position to capitalize on recent developments."

MBA Polymers pioneered the commercial recycling of plastics from large and complex postconsumer material streams, such as WEEE (waste electronic and electrical equipment), ELV (end-of-life vehicles) and more recently household mixed plastics. MBA has more than 300 million pounds of annual processing capacity at its state-of-the-art plants in China, Austria and the U.K. The company says it is in position to take advantage of significantly increased rates of plastics collection in North America, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s allowance to recover plastics from auto shredder residue, the EU progressive recycling targets for plastics packaging (45 percent by 2020 and 60 percent by 2025) and calls from some groups to ban the landfilling or incineration of plastic scrap in the EU as part of its circular economy proposals.