UK-based Pennon Group (Exeter; www.pennon-group.co.uk) has announced a project to power its new GBP 65m (EUR 73m) plastics recycling plant using electricity produced from plastics waste. The company says this move will create “a true circular economy energy park” at its site in Avonmouth near Bristol, which is the biggest multi-polymer plant in the UK.

Once operational, the new facility will divert 320,000 t/y of non-recyclable plastics waste away from landfill. In its first year of operation, the plant will produce 60,000 t/y of recycled plastics using 81,000 t/y of feedstock made from 1.6 bn bottles, pots, tubs and trays. By the third year of operation, this figure is set to rise to 89,000 t/y of feedstock producing 63,000 t/y of recycled plastics.

Chris Loughlin, the group’s CEO, said that by using non-recyclable waste to create low carbon electricity, the company is creating a resource and energy-efficient waste management solution. “There is a clear ambition from both UK consumers and politicians to improve recycling rates and reduce the amount of waste which is sent to export. Our research shows that 80% of people believe the UK should find a way to deal with its own recycling without having to ship it to other countries.”

By its own account, Pennon is one of the UK’s largest environmental infrastructure groups. It owns water and wastewater company South West Water (Exeter; www.southwestwater.co.uk) and recycling company Viridor (Taunton / UK; www.viridor.co.uk), which is a member of the UK Plastics Pact launched by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap, Banbury / UK; www.wrap.org.uk) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF, Cowes / UK; www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) in 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 04.05.2018. The group has a workforce of 5,000 and in 2018 posted sales of GBP 1.48 bn.