Greenstar WES, based in the U.K., reports that it hit new production records in December, producing nearly 700 metric tons of food-grade recycled HDPE plastic flake, taking its 2009 production total to 5,900 metric tons.
Greenstar’s flake reportedly went into slightly more than 140 million plastic milk bottles that were made in December with recycled content, over half of all plastic milk bottles produced that month. Its share increased in January to about two-thirds of all milk bottles, according to the company.
Approximately 564 metric tons of Greenstar WES’s December production of 689 metric tons of recycled HDPE went to the dairy sector. The remaining 125 metric tons were used as recycled content in food trays, according to the company. Production increased further in January, and around 600 metric tons currently are being supplied to milk bottle manufacturers.
Plastic milk bottles are currently made with 10 percent on average of recycled food grade plastic. The U.K. dairy industry’s Milk Roadmap has a target of using 10 percent recycled HDPE in plastic milk bottles by 2010, increasing that figure to 30 percent in five years and to 50 percent by 2020.
Greenstar WES supplies much of its recycled HDPE to Nampak Plastics, which makes plastic milk bottles. Nampak will take 6,000 metric tons annually of Greenstar WES’ recycled HDPE and is looking to increase the recycled content of its bottles to 30 percent, in line with the Milk Roadmap.
Greenstar WES also supplies recycled HDPE to plastic food tray manufacturers which add between 10- 20 percent recycled content to each new tray made.
“It’s fitting that we closed an outstanding year by hitting our highest production level - and then beat that in the first month of the new decade,” says James Donaldson, Greenstar WES founder and managing director.
Greenstar WES says it was the first company in the world to develop and commercially apply the technology for converting plastic milk bottles from consumers’ bins into super clean, high grade recycled HDPE flake. The company also has won a WRAP (Waste Resources Action Program) grant to set up a processing line for recycling 20,000 metric tons annually of mixed plastics.
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