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You are here: CIWM  >  Publications  >  Latest News  >  Coca-Cola Enterprise See Joint Venture Expansion With Eco Plastics Approved

Coca-Cola Enterprise See Joint Venture Expansion With Eco Plastics Approved

6 May 2011

Plastic bottle recycler ECO Plastics announced it has received planning permission from Lincolnshire County Council for a £15m expansion at its Hemswell sorting facility

The expanded facility - a joint venture between the company and Coca-Cola Enterprises - will supply food-grade recycled PET to Coca-Cola Enterprises.

Having secured planning approval, ECO Plastics will now develop a purpose-built facility to run in tandem with its existing plant.

The expansion will create 30 new jobs, as well as a number of indirect jobs in the local community.

The agreement is the first of its kind in Britain and will see ECO Plastics continue to source, sort and clean used plastics, which will then be made into rPET flakes. Having been extruded into food-grade rPET pellet in the new facility, these will then be utilised to produce preforms that will be blown into Coca Cola's world famous bottles.

Peter Gangsted, Chairman of ECO Plastics, said:"Today's announcement is the next phase in ECO Plastics' development. Over the last year we have successfully transformed our plant into the largest and most sophisticated in Europe, renamed the business and signed a major deal with the world's biggest beverage brand.

"We will not take our foot off the pedal and expect to start construction over the summer in order to have the site operational in time for the 2012 Olympics."

ECO Plastics expansion will increase its capacity from 100,000 tonnes to 140,000 tonnes of plastic per year, just under 50 percent of the total plastic bottles collected within the UK last year. Of this, 40,000 tonnes will be food grade rPET pellet, an increase of 25,000 tonnes per year from the plant's current capacity, almost 70 percent of domestic production.

In addition to having signed a ten-year off-take contract, CCE will also provide £5 million towards the creation of the new facility. ECO Plastics will raise the remaining £10 million needed.

Nick Brown, Commercial Recycling Manager for Coca-Cola Enterprises added: "This project represents a major milestone for addressing the recycling challenges in this country. Coca-Cola Enterprises has committed to incorporating 25 percent of rPET pellet into all our plastic bottles in Britain by 2012, and our investment with ECO Plastics is key for making this a reality."

Darrel Moore