Advetec invests £600,000 on solutions to treat plastics waste

Advetec, a specialist in the treatment and reduction of solid and liquid organic waste, is expanding its operations with a £600,000 investment in additional laboratories and staff.

The company has invested in a new, purpose-built laboratory for Research and Development with three state-of-the art pilot plants, where testing and trailing pre- and post-treatment liquid and solid organic waste streams will occur.

Advetec says careful analysis of a company’s waste stream will establish the calorific (kg/k) or nutritional value (NPK) of output waste material for a range of UK and International customers in food processing, utilities, transport, hospitality and manufacturing.

“With 100 years’ worth of plastic garbage floating around our eco system, we have a responsibility to deal with it.  Just removing plastic from the sea then dumping it into the ground is not a solution,” said Craig Shaw, Group CEO.

“Hence our Circular Solution: collect it, process it and reuse it. We started by developing our Advetec XO reactor (an on-site plant that reduces waste by 60-90 per cent within 24 -72 hours) and now add R&D into plastic degradation to bring us closer to finding a solution to deal with plastics and save our oceans, a cause particularly close to my heart.”

To maximise the digestive effectiveness of the company’s treatment systems, the team matches bacteria strains and bespoke bio-stimulants to individual effluent streams. 

With this research Advetec says it can guarantee the company’s performance in reducing liquid and solid waste by 70-90 per cent by volume and treat any emissions from specific waste streams.     

Plastic digestion will be the primary focus and the effective conversion of mixed solids waste as a consistent feed stock for waste to energy companies.

In addition to new facilities Advetec is employing an additional 17 staff at its operational base in Bath, including engineers, project managers and sales experts and aims to add a further 30 technical staff by the end of 2018.