Closed Loop Recycling, the UK’s pioneering producer of high quality, food grade rPET and rHDPE, has hired advisors from UBS, the investment bank to raise £30 million to finance its expansion plans including a series of plants nationwide. 

Top of the recycler’s priorities is the development of its second plant on Deeside which, when complete, will process up to 50,000 tonnes of waste plastic bottles a year into material suitable for new bottles and other food grade packaging for companies such as Coca-Cola Enterprises, Solo Cup Europe, Nampak, Logoplaste and Alpla.  

The announcement follows the success of Closed Loop Recycling’s first plant in Dagenham which opened in 2008 and was the first facility of its kind in the world to process both PET and HDPE into food grade quality material using world-leading, state of the art technologies.  Combined, the two plants will process up to 85,000 tonnes of post-consumer waste plastic bottles, saving 127,500 tonnes of CO2 per annum. 

Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop Recycling, who plans to open multiple plants throughout the UK, comments:  

“We believe the investor appetite is out there for companies that have a proven performance.  We have developed the technology and know-how to ensure we produce the best quality product there is.  We have worked together with all aspects of the supply chain to ensure consistent availability of raw material and a strong demand for our quality end product. And recycling rates continue to increase, thanks to strong consumer education and a willingness by local authorities to extend the range of recycling services they offer. 

“All we need now are the right incentives from government to support our industry further, develop the next generation of low carbon jobs and make the positive changes to the environment we are all striving for.” 

Closed Loop Recycling’s second plant will create 110 jobs and will take significant volumes of its plastic from Wales and the North West, diverting waste from both landfill and export.  Work on the new plant is expected to begin early next year, with rPET and rHDPE production expected to commence at the end of 2011.