MOSCOW (MRC) -- UK waste management company Biffa announced the formal opening of its 27.5 million pound sterling (about USD35.7 million) facility in Seaham, County Durham, in northern England, reported Plastics Recycling Update.
Biffa called the facility, capable of recycling 57,000 metric tons of PET annually, "among the most modern and technically advanced of its kind in the world."
To start, the plant will produce flakes. Getting to that point has required a roughly USD19.5 million investment. According to a press release, over the next 12 months, another USD16.2 million will be spent expanding the facility’s capabilities to include compounding and palletizing.
"This facility will help the UK address two of its most pressing issues - plastic waste and the climate emergency," Michael Topham, Biffa’s chief executive, stated in the press release. "Whilst we must work towards reducing overall plastic consumption as a society, the fact remains that plastic has a vital role as a lightweight, durable, low energy-intensity material, that if recycled properly can have a sustainable role in modern life. Facilities like ours at Seaham will help ensure that we can recycle our own plastic waste here in the UK, creating jobs in the green economy and stimulating the development of more sustainable packaging."
According to the release, the facility will sell RPET into a variety of markets, including food and drink packaging and clothing. It is expected to generate about USD52 million in revenue a year.
A publicly traded company, Biffa collects garbage and recyclables, sorts and sells recyclables at materials recovery facilities (MRFs), recycles plastics, burns material for energy recovery and landfills waste. The company collects over 4 million metric tons of garbage and recyclables from UK households and businesses each year.
In terms of plastics recycling, Biffa already runs an HDPE recycling facility in Redcar, North Yorkshire. That plant produces food-grade recycled HDPE for use in milk bottles and other products.
"We have a significant opportunity to grow our Biffa Polymers business, with strong demand for the closed loop food grade recycled plastic we produce," according to a half-year financial report released in November. An accompanying presentation noted that demand for offtake at the Seaham plant was already exceeding capacity there.
Biffa also announced it will build a new plastics processing facility in Washington, a town in northern England not far from Seaham. That USD9 million facility will recycle up to 44 million pounds of plastic pots and trays per year. It will be built over the next year.
As per MRC's ScanPlast report, imports of PET chips into Russia increased by 13% year on year in the first eleven months of 2019, reaching 130,800 tonnes, compared to 116,100 tonnes a year earlier (excluding shipments from Belarus). Russia's PET imports almost doubled in November 2019, totalling 12,300 tonnes, versus 6,300 tonnes in October; imports of material were 8,200 tonnes in November 2018. The share of Chinese material was 78% (9,600 tonnes) in November versus 92% (5,800 tonnes) a month earlier.
MRC