Closed Loop to open Welsh plastic recycling plant

Liz Wells, packagingnews.co.uk, 15 September 2008

 

Closed Loop Recycling has revealed that its second mixed plastics recycling plant will be in Flintshire in Wales.

 

The company told The Guardian that its plastic bottle recycling capacity will rise by 50% when the new £12m plant starts operating in October 2009.

 

The project is being funded with cash from the private equity firm Foresight Group, a bank loan from Allied Irish Bank and about £1m in public-sector funding from the Welsh Assembly.

 

Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop, said: "This is a sector that people want to invest in because it is growing. The consumer is asking the retailer, 'Are you using recycled material in that?' and the rising price of oil is a good thing for the recycling industry."

 

Waste recovery firm Veolia Environmental Services will provide 50,000 tonnes of plastic bottles sourced from dozens of local authorities in Wales and the north-west of England.

 

The company is already working on plans for a third plant, which could be up and running by the end of 2010. It wants up to five facilities in the next five years.

 

Closed Loop said it has got buyers for more than 60% of the plastic it will produce from the Welsh plant including Coca-Cola, Britvic and the milk bottle manufacturers Nampak and Logoplaste.

 

Closed Loop opened its first plant in Dagenham, East LOndon, in June.