Veolia (Paris) has expanded its plastic recycling capabilities in the U.K., with three sites (in London, Essex and the Midlands) dedicated to the recycling of 100 different grades of plastic. These will be from consumer, commercial and industrial sources, increasing the scale of recycling by 8,000 tons per year. The service will include the full process of the collection of materials from homes or businesses, recycling of the materials, then turning them into pellets for the production of new plastic products. Some examples of the plastics that will now be able to be recycled at the facilities are: high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polycarbonate (PC).
“Significantly increasing our recycling capabilities in this way will help us to contribute further to creating a circular economy, as it will reduce the need for virgin plastics and enable the repurposing of plastics that are not commonly recycled. This latest development in plastics recycling enables us to get one step closer to reducing the need for virgin plastics across commerce, industry and communities. If all plastic were recycled this could mean annual savings of 30 to 150 million tons of CO2,” said Tim Duret, Director of Sustainable Technology, Veolia UK & Ireland.