UK plastics recycling company Vanden Recycling (Lisburn; www.vandenrecycling.com) has opened a new office in Istanbul / Turkey with the goal to support the country’s “zero waste” project – see Plasteurope.com of 02.05.2019 – which seeks to improve recycling rates in the region from 13% currently up to 35% by 2023.

The new Istanbul office, trading as Vanden Polimer Geri Donusum, will be led by business development manager Derya Ekşi. She has 13 years of experience in the plastic raw materials industry, previously working at the Istanbul location of plastics distributor and compounder Ravago (Arendonk / Belgium; www.ravago.com). Ekşi noted, “There is a strong belief in Turkey that plastic scrap is a waste material, when in reality it can be treated as a valuable raw material.”

The UK recycler reprocesses scrap plastics it collects from post-industrial waste streams into regrind that it sells back for manufacturing. It also offers secure destruction and tolling services. “Our goal in Turkey is to help the local plastic manufacturing market increase its use of recycled content,” said Vanden Recycling CEO Damien van Lueven. He added that Vanden will provide access to international markets for recycled resins and products made in Turkey.

The new location in Turkey follows Vanden’s recent opening of an office in Dubai (see Plasteurope.com of 25.11.2019). According to its website, the company has locations in Australia and Finland in addition to a factory in the UK. Vanden Recycling is part of the Vanden Group, which comprises offices in Australia, Finland and Hong Kong. According to the group, it recycles around 50,000 t/y of plastics and processes eight types of regrind – ABS, PA, PC, PE, PET, PP, PS and PVC.