Specialist PET recycler, Enviroo has received approval from the planning commission to build its first plastic recycling facility in the UK.
This means that the plastic recycling facility will be operational in summer 2022 at Peel NRE’s 54-hectare strategic energy and resource hub, Protos, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK.
Enviroo’s new plant will taken in PET waste - mainly plastic bottles and certain food packaging – and convert it via a sophisticated mechanical recycling process into the raw material for new food-grade packaging. The plant will be based on proven technology to sort and wash the waste, before processing this into r-PET) pellets that can be used by packaging manufacturers to create new packaging products. This technology is able to re-use 100% of the PET it takes in.
The project will see an investment of around £20 million into the local economy and create 50 new, permanent jobs.
The recycling plant will help to meet the demand for recycled PET in the UK, which continues to grow in light of the upcoming legislation on recycled content in new packaging. From this tie next year, any packaging that contains less than 30% recycled PET will be taxed.
Some manufacturers have gone further, pledging to include up to 50% recycled material in their packaging under the UK Plastics Pact, which has further fuelled demand.
“Our first facility will hopefully be one of many as Enviroo look to provide a solution for packaging manufacturers who are preparing for the upcoming plastic tax legislation, said Ahmed Detta, CEO & Founder of Enviroo. “Our facilities will provide the recycled PET manufacturers need in their products, while reducing the amount of virgin plastic.”
Enviroo’s first facility is at the £165m Plastic Park at Protos, which will cluster together plastic recycling and recovery technologies to create value from plastic waste, helping to avoid it ending up in landfill, exported overseas or in the oceans.
Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, owns and develops waste and energy infrastructure projects. Its Protos Cheshire energy and resource hub leads the way in low carbon energy and waste management with the deployment of innovative technologies including the UK’s first plastic-to-hydrogen facility, a 50MW wind farm, a 26MW biomass plant, a 49MW energy from waste plant in construction and a plastic park blueprint to revolutionise plastic recycling nationwide.