UK chemical recycling receives record investment in historic circularity charge

19 Oct 2020 --- UK Research and Investment (UKRI) is announcing the largest ever investment in UK chemical recycling technology. Four projects at the “cutting edge” of recycling are receiving cash injections to increase the range of plastics being recycled while decreasing landfill, incineration, and waste export.

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) will invest £20 million (US$26 million) in the winning companies alongside an additional £65 million (US$84.5 million) of industry investments.

The investments represent the UK’s most significant step in advancing plastics chemical recycling to date and a leap forward for the circular economy.

Chemical recycling uses thermochemical processes to transform plastic waste into pyrolysis oil. This secondary raw material then serves as feedstock for the chemical industry to produce plastic for various purposes, such as packaging.

The investments were awarded as part of UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) challenge, launched in 2019. The four winners submitted applications outlining their prototypes for plastic recycling innovations. Investments will be used to scale up their operations and put their designs into practice.

The UK government is proposing a £200 (US$263) per ton tax rate for plastic packaging with less than 30 percent recycled content, taking effect from April 2022.

Investments will be used to scale up chemical recycling operations and put designs into practice.

Who are the winners?
Veolia, in collaboration with Unilever, Charpack and HSSMI, are working together to develop the UK’s first facility capable of recycling 100 percent of clear PET plastics. Bottles and trays will both be recycled, and Unilever will investigate the use of the recycled plastic for non-food products such as its personal and home care range. 

ReNew ELP will set up a Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor capable of converting 20,000 tons of plastics per year into chemicals and oils for new virgin-grade plastics, waxes, and residue fit for use in road construction. 

Recycling Technologies, based in Scotland, will use thermal cracking to recycle plastic waste unfit for conventional recycling methods. This method will produce hydrocarbon oil that can replace crude oil in plastic production – meaning it can be recycled an unlimited number of times. This project will be led in conjunction with Neste and Unilever. 

Poseidon Plastics is commercializing a new and enhanced recycling technique using chemical processes. It will be constructing a new site capable of producing 15,000 tons of recycled plastic per year. Partnering with waste collection and mechanical recycling experts Biffa and PET resin producers Alpek Polyester UK and DuPont Teijin Films UK, this project aims to demonstrate how post-consumer and post-industrial packaging, film and other hard-to-recycle PET wastes can be chemically recycled back into new consumer end-use goods.

Less plastic waste, more jobs
The projects are expected to create hundreds of new jobs for the Teeside area of England, where ReNew ELP and Poseiden Plastics are based. More jobs will also be created in Scotland.

“By investing in these truly ground-breaking technologies we will help to drive these efforts even further, and I look forward to seeing them develop and deliver real results,” notes Rebecca Pow, environment minister.

The investments come as part of broader plans to eliminate plastic waste in the UK. “The government is committed to clamping down on the unacceptable plastic waste that harms our environment and ensuring more materials can be reused instead of being thrown away,” Pow adds.The projects are expected to create hundreds of new jobs for the Teeside area of England.

Future investment awards on the horizon
The SSPP is aiming to put the UK at the forefront of sustainable plastic innovators for consumer products. These investments are part of a £60 million (US$77 million) funding pledge by the ISCF, complemented with £149 million (US$193 million) from industry players.

Paul Davidson, the challenge director of the SSPP, said this funding was “just the start” and that “the plastic packaging industry is changing, to become more responsive to our environmentally conscious concerns.” 

“The work of our four demonstrator winners will go a long way to reinstate plastic as a sustainable packaging choice. In particular, our winners demonstrated they have a lifecycle approach to plastics packaging, thinking through the use of a material from its raw state, through to its transport, its use by consumers and its disposal,” he explains. 

By Louis Gore-Langton