Berry bpi has installed the first wash plant and recycling facility in the UK that is able to recycle both flexible and rigid plastics.
The new state of the art operation at Berry’s Heanor, Derbyshire factory will increase the company’s recycling capacity by approximately 1,200 tonnes per year. Sourcing material from both household and industrial waste and utilising an advanced purification process, the plant produces high quality and consistent recyclate that can be used in a variety of industrial and consumer rigid and flexible applications such as storage boxes and collation shrink films.
An important aspect of the design of the facility is that all water used during the recycling process is recirculated and reused, significantly reducing overall water consumption. In addition, waste from the process is sent to a waste to energy plant in nearby Nottingham.
“This is an important development that further strengthens our leadership in plastics recycling,” commented Gerry McGarry of Berry bpi. “The versatility of the line will enable us to become even more responsive in meeting the growing demand for high quality recycled material for new applications to support customers’ sustainability objectives, in particular the requirements of the forthcoming Plastics Packaging Tax, while the reduced water consumption demonstrates our own sustainability commitments.”
The installation project at Heanor has been co-funded by WRAP, the Waste Resource and Action Programme. WRAP works with government, businesses and communities to deliver practical solutions to improve resource efficiency around the world through product design, waste minimisation, re-use, recycling and reprocessing of waste materials.