Crossroads Real Estate funds Clean Planet Energy’s advanced recycling plant

17 Nov 2022 --- Clean Planet Energy is partnering with private equity firm Crossroads Real Estate to fund Clean Planet Energy’s flagship ecoPlant, currently under construction in Teesside, Northeast England. The plant will be the first of ten new ecoPlants that Crossroads Real Estate and Clean Planet Energy are jointly seeking to build and operate across the UK.

The new joint venture aims to tackle the plastic waste crisis. Clean Planet Energy says the project could lead to over £400 million (US$475 million) of new UK investment deployed for the future construction of these facilities. 

“Crossroads Real Estate is focused on making a sustainable difference with its impact investments, delivering a vision of a greener United Kingdom and beyond. They have significant status in the UK and Europe and are committed to green opportunities. With this, they make the perfect partner to expand our UK vision and build out our UK ecoPlant program,” Bertie Stephens, Group CEO, tells PackagingInsights. 

Sites in Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire and South Wales have been identified to potentially lead the ten-site rollout, with further locations and announcements to be made in the months ahead.

“Crossroads Real Estate is the joint venture partner, providing the project capital, real estate and professional expertise as we expand the ecoPlant portfolio across the UK,” stresses Stephens. 

“The negative impact of plastic waste on our environment, plus the challenges we face from excess carbon emissions, made the joint venture with Clean Planet Energy a very compelling opportunity. With this investment, we can make a significant environmental and social impact across the UK,” adds David Gillerman, founding partner & CEO of Crossroads Real Estate. 

Bertie Stephens, Group CEO at Clean Planet Energy.Clean Planet’s ecoPlant 
A Clean Planet ecoPlant is defined as “a green, advanced recycling facility that processes plastic materials.”

“A Clean Planet ecoPlant can process almost all plastic types, enabling hard-to-recycle plastics which would otherwise be entering landfill or incineration to be processed,” asserts Stephens. 

Each ecoPlant is designed to accept 20,000 metric tons of plastics each year and convert this waste into ultra-low sulfur fuels to replace fossil fuels in the transport and heavy-machinery sectors. Furthermore, the plant can convert waste into circular petrochemical feedstocks, including Naphtha, which can make new plastic products without requiring refineries to use fossil-based feedstock. 

Aligning with COP27
At COP27, a panel discussion on “capturing opportunities in the materials transition” took place last Friday. The speakers discussed the existence and importance of green premiums to accelerate an environmentally sustainable materials transition and the need to form long-term partnerships along the value chain to drive decarbonization and the necessary investments. 

“By converting non-recyclable waste plastics into Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (for fuels) and Naphtha (to make new plastics), we can use these reduced carbon fuels and circular-petrochemical feedstocks to reduce CO2 emissions by 75%, compared to the use of traditional fossil fuels and fossil feedstocks,” highlights Stephens.

“Removing the need to drill more oil from the ground can significantly limit carbon emissions, a key aim of COP27 – as is the reduction of plastic waste.”

Boosting circularity
Stephens continues that Clean Planet Energy’s mission is to remove over 1 million metric tons of non-recyclable plastic waste from the environment annually.

“Having Crossroads Real Estate join us, not just on the development of potentially ten new UK ecoPlant projects, but also on the construction of the current Teesside ecoPlant, means in Crossroads we have a partner, who like us is focussed on making a sustainable difference with its investments, delivering on a vision of a greener United Kingdom and beyond.” 

“We’re now reaching out to local councils and private partners across the UK who could benefit from a reduction in plastic waste entering their landfill,” adds Stephens. 

By developing new ecoPlants throughout the UK, Clean Planet Energy and Crossroads Real Estate are opening a route for traditionally non-recyclable plastic waste to be repurposed into sustainable and circular products, thereby cutting plastic pollution, reducing waste entering UK landfills and lowering GHG emissions if used as low-carbon fuel replacements. 

By Natalie Schwertheim