United Kingdom – Having established a state-of-the-art, US$ 24 million (Euro 18.7 million) recycling facility in the UK dedicated to processing plastic bottles and polymers simultaneously, Coca-Cola and ECO Plastics state they have tackled the enduring issue of recycling mixed plastics.
Located in north Lincolnshire, the joint-venture recycling plant is one of the first with the technology to integrate the handling of various types of plastic. Hailed as a ‘breakthrough’ by both its founders and the UK government, it received funding of US$ 1.8 million (Euro 1.4 million) from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) advisory body and is predicted to process over 15 000 tonnes per annum of rigid plastic packaging such as trays and containers.
According to Marcus Gover, Director of the Closed Loop Economy Programme at WRAP, it is ‘very important that rigid plastic packaging is effectively recycled’ due to the risk of contamination if the material isn’t ‘taken care of properly’. Mr Gover adds: ‘As the UK’s capacity to process non-bottle plastics packaging grows, it will ultimately become viable for local authorities to routinely collect non-bottle plastics packaging from households at kerbside.’
Besides co-running the Lincolnshire operation, Coca-Cola has made an ambitious promise: to recycle all clear plastic bottles that are disposed of at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – of which it is one of the main sponsors. The materials collected at the events will serve to manufacture around 80 million new Coke bottles, it has been estimated.
For more information, visit: www.coca-cola.com and www.ecoplasticsltd.com
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