Irish Firm Lands Contract for Plastics Recycling Project

Irish Polymers, based in Antrim, Ireland, announced that it has secured a first time export business in China that is expected to be worth around 400,000 pounds (about US $756,000) over the next 12 months.

The contract for Irish Polymers, which was assisted by Invest NI’s Trade Adviser in Singapore, is for the supply of plastic bottles for eventual processing into garments and bedding by Chinese manufacturers.

The bottles, recovered from civic amenity sites in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, are being supplied to a brokerage business in Hong Kong for distribution to processing and manufacturing operations in other parts of China.

The contract was announced at the start of an Invest NI trade mission by Des Mullan, the company’s managing director, and Alan Hingston, Invest NI’s Trade director.

Mullan said: “This is a very important breakthrough for us in a marketplace with a rapidly growing demand for plastics that can be reprocessed. With the expert advice and guidance from Invest NI in Singapore we identified a broker and are now shipping four containers every week to Hong Kong, said Mullan.

“The deal is a major boost for our strategic focus on recycling services as a platform for the development of a reprocessing business in Northern Ireland.”

Irish Polymers was formed seven years ago and currently employs 15 people in its recycling operations from its base at Enkalon Industrial Park, Antrim. The company provides collection services to councils and other bodies, both north and south for plastic bottle waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfill sites.