Veolia, the French waste management giant, has refitted a specialist HDPE re-extrusion plant in Dagenham.
Its Dagenham Plastics Facility site was officially opened on September 19th, by the UK president of Veolia, Estelle Brachlianoff, and Rajesh Agrawal, London’s Deputy Mayor for Business.
The site, acquired from Closed Loop recycling, will specialise in handling HDPE from milk bottles, separated by Veolia at its nearby plant in Rainham.
Estelle Brachlianoff, Rajesh Agrawal and Richard Kirkman at the Dagenham HDPE site.
Unveiling the inaugural plaque, Brachlianoff said: “In the world we are producing 300 million tonnes of plastic, of which seven million are dumped into the oceans. In the river Thames we removed 4000 bottles from the river. Plastic is a great material. It is very useful, and protects products for extending their life - as long as it is not the end of the story.
"We want to be part of the solution instead of complaining, and we do that by investing in this plant today…
"Veolia is now a ‘mining’ company – we are mining our waste to make something transformative, and then invest to make that into something that has value for somebody else.
"Be it in another loop of production, or to use up the calories when we have no other choice, and to use the heat instead of coal, it is the circular economy in action - its not only good for the planet, it is good business. It is not only dreaming, it is happening here now.”
After a refit of a derelict site, with new shredding, sorting and EREMA extruder lines, the plant is set to make 10,000 tonnes of food grade HDPE pellets a year.
The move will boost Britain’s domestic recycling capability in the wake of China’s Bordergate Sword rulings, creating 30 jobs in East London and enabling Veolia to sell a variety of valuable products from the bottles it collects from households.