Specialist plastic bottle recycler Closed Loop Recycling (Dagenham / UK; www.closedlooprecycling.co.uk) has confirmed that it will go ahead with plans to substantially increase plant capacity in the first quarter of 2012 – see also Plasteurope.com of 15.08.2011. Currently it can reprocess 35,000 t/y of waste PET bottles, but a GBP 12m (EUR 14.4m) expansion will add an additional 65,000 t/y of capacity. The expansion will be a relatively long process, according to marketing manager Nick Cliffe. A new facility will be built on land adjacent to Closed Loop’s current plant in the Thames Gateway Park, but will require considerable regeneration as it is a brown field site. Cliffe believes it will take at least eight and possibly 12 months before the new facility can be commissioned. Once fully on stream early in 2013 it will have created 40 jobs, which would take the workforce up to some 150.

In addition to increasing overall capacity, a key function of the investment is to allow Closed Loop to be more flexible in handling the waste streams it receives. Therefore, the sorting capacity, both human and mechanical, is being significantly increased. Improved quality of product is the focus as the current set-up is geared primarily to handling a lower quality bale of waste bottles. The enlarged operation will see the existing plant concentrate on the recovery of high quality, food-grade material, processing some 14,000 t/y of PET and 12,000 t/y of HDPE. Average annual capacity of both sites is likely to be 65,000-70,000 t/y.