Coca-Cola-Eco Plastics JV to recycle plastic bottles in Great Britain

Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) and ECO Plastics have formed a pioneering joint venture - a first for the UK recycling and beverage industries, the new business will be known as Continuum Recycling Limited. The name reflects the fact that the joint venture company will establish a continuous process for re-processing plastic bottles in Great Britain. Used plastic bottles will be recycled in Lincolnshire and the high quality materials produced will be re-used in new Coca-Cola bottles. Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics said: “Today’s news is important because it demonstrates again our commitment and progress towards realising what will be a revolutionary project for the British recycling and beverage industries. I’m delighted that we are on track to deliver against the ambitious project timetable. “ECO Plastics’ plant is already the largest and most sophisticated in Europe and having put the finishing touches to a £24 mln financing packaging in the last month, we will now be able to increase capacity from 100,000 tpa to 140,000 tpa of mixed plastic bottles, just under 50% of the total collected last year. “I’m also very pleased to be able to announce that we have actively begun looking to hire people to work in the new facility. Not only are these skilled jobs, they’re skilled jobs in a rural area, where employment has been on the decline for some time.” The thirty jobs created will include extrusion, process and quality control posts. Interested applicants should contact the business directly either by calling 01427 668635 or by e-mailing info@ecoplasticsltd.com Nick Brown, Commercial Recycling Manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd said: “We are delighted to see that work has started on the new facilities where Continuum Recycling will reprocess bottles to produce high quality material for reuse in our packaging. We are also really pleased to see the start of recruitment for the skilled roles which will make this new business a great success. “Continuum Recycling is a great name for the business; it explains how effective recycling will lead to a continuous process of use, recycling and reuse for plastic bottles. This is a really important step in CCE’s journey to transform recycling in GB.” Since the announcement that ECO Plastics had received planning permission for a £15 million expansion in May, work has advanced rapidly and ground works, foundations and a new road have all already been completed. The new facility will increase the amount of high-quality bottle-grade rPET currently produced in the UK to more than 75,000 tonnes a year, more than doubling the current total. Having been transformed into food-grade rPET pellet by Continuum Recycling, these will then be used in Coca-Cola bottles, enabling Coca-Cola Enterprises to meet its target of including 25% recycled PET in all its plastics packaging by 2012.