Recycling venture reaches anniversary milestone

A recycled PET joint venture has reached the milestone of processing half a billion bottles, just a year after it opened.

Continuum, the agreement between Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and ECO Plastics, opened in May 2012 and says if they placed end-to-end all of the bottles processed to date, they would stretch around the world more than twice (based on the approx. length of a Coca-Cola bottle – 20cm).

To mark Continuum’s first full year in operation, CCE and ECO Plastics welcomed Lord de Mauley, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), for a tour of the facility. The visit allowed the Waste & Recycling Minister to witness first-hand the technology and people driving the transformation of plastics reprocessing in Great Britain.

Located on the site of ECO Plastics’ existing facility in Hemswell, Lincolnshire, the development of Continuum Recycling is said to have created the world’s largest plastics reprocessing facility, more than doubling the amount of bottle-grade recycled plastic (rPET) previously created in Britain.

The site is now responsible for processing around 50 percent of all the plastic bottles collected in the UK and played a key role in Coca-Cola’s recycling efforts during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In total, some 15 million plastic bottles were collected from Games venues and returned to shelves as part of 63 million new bottles, during a process that lasted as little as six weeks.

Alongside the plant’s environmental credentials, which includes saving a reported level of CO2 equivalent to taking over 15,700 cars off the road per year, the partnership has created over 30 new jobs since opening.

Lord de Mauley, Waste & Recycling Minister at DEFRA, commented: “Continuum has shown the real benefits of recycling. It has helped to cut down on waste and brought millions of plastic bottles back into use, which would have otherwise been sent to landfill. The plant has further helped Lincolnshire’s rural economy to thrive by creating more jobs - this is exactly what we want to see.”

Nick Brown, Associate Director for Recycling at Coca-Cola Enterprises, said: “We are immensely proud of the long-term partnership forged with ECO Plastics. Sorting more than half a billion bottles after only one year in operation is an extraordinary achievement, and shows once again the significance of a project which is truly shaping the future of plastics reprocessing in GB.

“Continuum was fundamental in helping the Coca-Cola system to deliver on its Olympics legacy pledge and its materials are now used across our full range of plastic packaging. Perhaps most significantly its success should demonstrate to everyone, from householders to Local Authorities and policy makers, the real environmental and economic benefits of recycling.”

Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics, said: “Delivering a world-first is always a challenge, so to have hit the 500 million mark within a year of opening is a real achievement.”

“But as significant as that accomplishment is in terms of jobs created and in terms of carbon saved, it is only part of the story. We hope that Continuum will prove to be a gateway project, demonstrating the value of long-term partnership and providing a template that others can follow.

“The challenge of creating a sustainable and 360 degree UK recycling industry is a real one. Projects like Continuum can make a material difference in helping us to achieve that vision.”