Enval secures funding for commercial-scale laminate recycling plant

Enval, a Cambridge, U.K., provider of recycling and environmental technology solutions, has attracted further backing to commercialize its technology for recycling plastic and aluminum laminate packaging. The investment was secured from a syndicate of investors including Cambridge Enterprise, Cambridge Capital Group and Cambridge Angels.

Enval focuses on providing specialized solutions across industrial, commercial and municipal sectors to deliver value from waste. The company says its patented technology offers a recycling route for plastic/aluminum laminate packaging that has, to date, been unrecyclable.

According to Enval, the award-winning technology separates the material into its constituent components, producing clean aluminum ready for introduction into the secondary aluminum supply chain and hydrocarbons that can be used as fuel or chemical feedstock.

“Enval is delighted to announce the completion of this funding round and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our current investors for their support,” says Dr. Carlos Ludlow-Palafox, co-founder and CTO of Enval. ”With this investment and the backing from our industrial partners, Kraft Foods and Nestlé, Enval expects to bring its first commercial plant into service towards the middle of this year.” The new plant is expected to showcase Enval’s technology to potential customers in the waste sector.

The private company was originally formed as a spin-off from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Along with the technical development and commercialization of its proprietary processes, Enval provides environmental life cycle analysis and consulting services with an emphasis on the pyrolytic recycling of complex flexible packaging materials.