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Biffa ups capacity at Washington plastics plant

By 05/03/2021News

Biffa has said it will increase the capacity of its plastics recycling plant in Washington, Sunderland, by 14,000 tonnes per year. 

Biffa’s Seaham plant, which along with Washington and Redcar, will mean it has 155,000 tonnes a year of UK plastic recycling capacity

As announced in a trading update earlier this week (see letsreycle.com story), the waste management company is investing a further £13 million in the plant to allow the treatment of an additional 14,000 tonnes of high-density polythene (HDPE) plastic.

The expansion will grow the plant’s annual capacity to 39,000 tonnes.

Biffa announced plans for the Washington plant in January 2020, as an initial investment of £7 million (see letsrecycle.com story).

Plastics tax

The company anticipates that the extended capacity of HDPE recycling at the plant will benefit packaging producers in the UK, who from 2022 will be required to use at least 30% recycled plastic in their products to avoid the new plastic packaging tax.

Biffa estimates a further 36,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE will be needed to meet the demand caused by the legislation.

Investments

Biffa says the expansion follows a series of investments it has made towards its commitment to build a circular economy, and plans to quadruple its plastic recycling capacity by 2030.

The company also operates at £27.5m PET plastics recycling facility at Seaham, opened last year (see letsrecycle.com story), as well as a HDPE recycling facility in Redcar.

The investment will bring Biffa’s entire plastic recycling business to a capacity to 155,000 tonnes a year.

‘On-shoring’

Mick Davis, chief operating officer for Biffa’s resources and energy division, said: “This investment in Washington is another example of Biffa on-shoring recycling capacity in our strategic journey to creating closed loop recycling in the UK.

“This investment in Washington is another example of Biffa on-shoring recycling capacity”

Mick Davis, chief operating officer, Biffa

“We look forward to being able to offer UK manufacturers more high-quality recycled plastics and help prevent the export of plastics for reprocessing.

“We have a strong and growing presence in the North East of England, a region which is playing a leading role in the UK’s green industrial revolution and we are delighted to be creating a further 50 new jobs as part of these plans.”

The post Biffa ups capacity at Washington plastics plant appeared first on letsrecycle.com.

Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic