Viridor, the biggest UK-owned recycled company, has announced that all its recyclable plastic waste will be reprocessed in the UK from next year as part of the company’s recycling investment programme.
With the successful commissioning of its new £65 million plastics reprocessing plant near Bristol, in 2020 Viridor will create new raw materials, ready to be reused by packaging manufacturers in flake and pellet form, from all its core recyclable materials collected in the UK.
Viridor has responding to a call from the UK public, shown in its 2019 Recycling Index, in a new development which has been made possible through innovation and a programme of recycling and reprocessing investment.
The 2019 Recycling Index revealed that 85 per cent of those surveyed believe the UK should recycle and reprocess plastic waste at home.
This statistic has risen by five points since Viridor’s 2018 Index.
Phil Piddington, Viridor’s Managing Director, said: “Viridor has been using the Recycling Index to track public attitudes to recycling for four years, and, as a UK company working with 150 local authority and major corporate client, and 32,000 customers, we understand the appetite for greater resource efficiency and a more circular economy.”
“What this really means is that people expect the UK to be responsible for the waste it produces. The public wants us to find a way to recycle and reprocess plastic so it is no longer considered single-use, that it will go on to live another life and make an ongoing contribution to our economy.”
“Viridor, through the UK Plastics Pact, is working hard with like-minded companies who can help us achieve our goal of making it easy for people to do the right thing when they separate their recycling at home.”
“We are accomplishing this through our dedicated division, Viridor Resource Management. The public should feel confident that when they put the right waste in the right bin, we ensure that it can be recycled and reprocessed by investing in UK infrastructure.”
Sarah Heald, Director of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations at Viridor’s parent company, Pennon Group, said: “The plastics tax and the Resources and Waste Strategy’ focus on issues such as Extended Producer Responsibility will have a really significant because they help to create the right environment for investment in the infrastructure the UK needs, and the demand for recyclable material in the UK.”
“It is crucial that UK manufacturers and consumers’ brands want to use recyclable material in new products, that this is part of their own sustainability targets because that is the circular economy in action and that should be everyone’s ambition.”