Viridor and Unilever agree five-year contract for recycled plastic

Viridor and Unilever have agreed a new contract which will see Unilever receive a range of recycled plastic from Viridor’s £65 million Avonmouth Resource Recovery Centre near Bristol.

The companies, both founding member of the UK Plastics Pact, have agreed an initial five-year contract for recycled plastic from the plant, which is powered by non-recyclable waste through Viridor’s new £252 million Avonmouth Energy Recovery Facility.

Viridor and Unilever have previously worked together with Mextek on detectable black plastic packaging for Unilever’s TRESemmé and Lynx personal care brands with trials carried out at Viridor’s Rochester Polymers Recycling Facility in Kent.

Keith Trower, Viridor Resource Management Manging Director, said: “Viridor and Unilever are committed to helping the UK achieve its recycling and sustainability targets and this contract demonstrates how we are translating that ambition in action.”

“To do this in a meaningful way Virifor has acknowledged the UK plastic reprocessing capacity gap and our Avonmouth investment is our response to that market demand.”

“By putting more recycled black plastic back into the economy, and powering that process with non-recyclable waste, we are creating a sustainable solutions and ensuring consumer brands, such as Unilever, have access to quality post-consumer recycled material.”

“Crucially, this contract also recognises the relationship between UK Plastics Pact partners and how such collaboration is vital if we are to achieve closed loop recycling solutions and achieve the Pact’s goals of 30 per cent average recycled content across all plastic packaging by 2025.”

Sebastian Munden, Unilever UK and Ireland General Manager, said: “Unilever has committed to increase its use of recycled plastic and close the loop on plastic packaging.”

“Limited availability of high-quality recycled content has remained a challenge, and that’s why we’re so pleased that our collaboration with Viridor will bring extra capacity online in the UK. This will be essential towards creating a more circular market, as well as contributing to the UK Plastic Pact targets.”

“We think that UK citizens will also be encouraged to recycle more if they can see their efforts being rewarded with more plastic going back into new bottles and not ending up in the environment.”

Phil Piddington, Managing Director of Viridor, said: “The unique design of our Avonmouth site, which incorporates sophisticated energy recovery and recycling technology, allows for the transfer of power and heat to serve the recycling and reprocessing site, creating a truly resource and energy-efficient waste management solution.”

“Reprocessed plastic uses 50 per cent less electricity than virgin plastic, which is already a very persuasive argument in favour of recycled materials. When we reduce our energy consumption further by tapping into the low carbon power created through energy recovery, we can achieve even greater sustainability and environmental efficiency.”