A new recycling plant that also deals with soft plastics has opened in Fife, which owners hope will be a big step towards fighting climate change.
Morrisons owns the Scottish site, which was constructed by Yes Recycling. The first of its kind, Nestle UK & Ireland has also been working with Zero Waste Scotland to help develop the plant.
It will process plastic that is hard to recycle, including cling film, chocolate and sweet wrappers, and crisp packets, using patented technology. These materials will then be turned into plastic flakes and pellets, as well as Ecosheet, for use in the construction and agriculture sectors.
When it is operating at full capacity, it is hoped it will be able to recycle 15,000 tonnes of plastic packaging every year.
The aim is for the material to remain in a closed loop, so soft plastic waste does not need to be exported, but simply re-used.
Omer Kutluoglu, co-owner of Yes Recycling, said: “It is a blueprint for the future and will help to kick-start the UK’s plastics recycling industry. It will mean we can keep plastic in our own country’s ‘circular economy’ and out of our seas and oceans.”
Fife is one of the few councils that collect this type of plastic for recycling, as the technology had not previously been available to turn it into other commercial products. As a result, it was taken to landfill, incinerated, or exported abroad.
Procurement director at Morrisons Jamie Winter said: “Now we want to help build a UK infrastructure to recycle the plastic that we may still need to use. By recycling these problematic plastics here in the UK we can give them a new life.”
The government intends for hard-to-recycle plastic to be collected from homes by 2027. However, for it to achieve this target, it would need a recycling capacity of one million tonnes.
Fife’s new plant is the first step towards helping to achieve this goal and create a circular economy in the UK.
Indeed, the flakes and pellets created can be used to make new plastic items, while the Ecosheets are able to be recycled over and over again. These can be used instead of plywood or virgin plastic panels, and are likely to become particularly popular as they are extremely durable. They are rot- and weather-proof, require no maintenance, last longer than timber or plywood, and are non-toxic to animals.
While it is still difficult to recycle these materials in lots of places, the UK has come a long way in recent years to improve its plastic recycling facilities. In fact, 99 per cent of councils provide kerbside recycling schemes for plastic bottles, and 85 per cent also take plastic pots, trays and tubs.
According to the British Plastics Federation (BPF), 61 per cent of plastic bottles were recycled in 2020, while slightly less (51 per cent) plastic packaging was recycled. Just over a third of post-consumer plastic was recycled in 2020.
Recycling plants need a lot of machinery to operate effectively and efficiently, including conveyor rollers. In fact, Nestle UK & Ireland revealed it invested £1.65 million into the Fife centre to help with the cause.
