Fiberight spearheads recycling consortium to transform UK flexible plastics circular economy

03 Aug 2022 --- Fiberight is spearheading a three-year £10 million (US$12.1 million) project that will set up and run a commercial-scale demonstration plant for recycling mixed plastic waste in the UK.

The plant will capture, recover and recycle post-consumer plastic packaging from mixed waste streams, such as rejectected material from material recovery facilities (MRFs) that currently ends up at landfill and incineration sites.

The resource recovery firm and four other partners have agreed to collaborate, leveraging their respective expertise to develop this Uncaptured Unrecycled Plastics (UP) project.

Innovate UK’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge (SSPPC) has co-funded the project with a £4.2 million (US$5.1 million) contribution.

The commercialization road
A smaller £200,000 (US$243 7000) plastics R&D project aimed at commercializing a near-market use for flexible plastics piqued Fiberight’s interest. “In this project, Fiberight is assessing options for utilizing recovered flexible plastics in plastic lumber products such as decking and fencing,” Dhivya Puri, head of R&D at Fiberight, tells PackagingInsights.

Fiberight secured £100,000 (US$122,000) in financing from the Welsh Government, and contributed this to the near-market project.

Thompson says Fiberight aims to increase the UK flexible plastics recycling rate by 300% by 2028.Puri elaborates on why this contribution is important to the company. “We are in the process of commercializing new technology that completely revolutionizes recycling,” she says.

“There is always risk associated with scaling-up and we must pass through the valley of death (in funding terms) in order to reach a cash positive position. Grant funding helps us to de-risk our commercialization effort.”

End market uses and applications for recycled materials will be sought in a variety of UK sectors. So far, these include non-food contact packaging, heavy gauge refuse sacks, pipes and buckets, lumber and roadside furniture.

Leveraging MRFs
A new supply of recycled plastics that will be used in the circular economy will be manufactured at the demonstration facility. Puri says Fiberight is “working with several brokers and haulers who are able to distribute the material.” 

The Swansea facility will use feedstock from local MRFs, initially contaminated MRF films and contaminated rigid plastics, before progressing to processing MRF reject materials.

The capacity of the facility will be up to 60,000 metric tons per annum and, in the long run, the plant will assist in job creation, offering 40 new positions. 

Partners and their pieces
Project partners include Impact Recycling, whose polymer separation equipment will be linked with Fiberight's Hydracycle technology to demonstrate a comprehensive water-based separation process for the recovery and recycling of various plastic kinds and packaging forms.

Moulding Solutions will be the primary offtake partner for recycling the rigid plastics. Plastics recovered from the Swansea plant will be used to supplement the recycler’s present supply in the creation of high-quality extruded pellets for use by UK producers of items such as utility pipes, wheelie bins, and packaging.

Ranela Recycling Services, a flexible plastic recycling company, will provide guidance on product quality, recycling equipment, and market channels for completed flexible or film-based plastics goods.Rejected material from MRFs currently ends up at landfill and incineration sites.

ProAmpac, a partner with a flexible packaging portfolio, will give technical guidance and assistance to the project.

Plastic recycling in the UK
Nick Thompson, co-founder and managing director of Fiberight, says that “the UP project will showcase the full value chain collaborating to establish a new way of recycling plastic packaging in the UK, capturing the lost resources.”

“It will play a key role in increasing the recycling of plastics in the UK by establishing much-needed infrastructure. By 2028, we aim to increase the number of flexible plastics recycled in the UK by 300% – compared to 2021 levels of recycling,” he continues.

“Ultimately, we are confident the project will showcase a game-changing innovation in the waste and recycling industry, thereby enabling access to finance for future commercial ventures.”

Paul Davidson, Innovate UK’s challenge director of SSPPC, comments that “capturing and recycling plastic packaging that otherwise would be sent for incineration as part of an MRF reject stream will help the UK to increase its plastic recycling rate and reduce the environmental impacts associated with disposal.” 

“This large-scale demonstration will prove if this technology is capable of achieving that and at commercial scale,” Davidson concludes.

By Mieke Meintjes