The first plant in the United Kingdom to recycle plastics into material for food packaging has been announced with the signing of a joint private and public sector funding agreement.
The plant, operated by Closed Loop London, will transform the recycling of PET plastic in the UK. The facility is expected to open at the end of this year. It is scheduled to handle around 35,000 metric tons of packaging a year.
Initiated by Closed Loop London, the project has received private equity funding from Foresight Venture Partners and a banking facility from Allied Irish Bank, and is also supported by public sector funding from the London Development Agency and WRAP.
Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop London, said: "The development of this facility is the realization of a three year vision to close the loop on plastics recycling in the UK. We are delighted to be able to bring to the food packaging manufacturers a commercially viable and environmentally responsible option when specifying packaging."
The facility will be using a technology developed by United Resource Recovery Corp., based in South Carolina. That technology will sort, granulate and super clean the recycled plastic bottles to produce a high quality raw material that has been tested extensively and is widely used in food applications in both the US and Europe.