Plastics plant hits recycling milestone
Continuum Recycling, the recycled-PET joint venture between Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and Eco Plastics, has celebrated sorting a quarter of a billion bottles.
The landmark comes some nine months after the UK facility was opened.
Located on the site of ECO Plastics’ existing facility in Hemswell – itself the world’s largest plastics sorting plant – Continuum is now responsible for processing more than 50 per cent of the UK’s bottle grade rPET plastic.
The success of the facility allowed CCE to meet its commitment to use 25 per cent rPET in all its bottles by the end of 2012.
The plant also played a key part in Coca-Cola’s efforts to recycle all of the plastic bottles used during the Olympics and Paralympics, with some 15 million collected and returned to shelves as part of 63 million new bottles during a process that lasted as little as six weeks.
“Continuum was built in record time,” says Jonathan Short, managing director of ECO Plastics. “Taking ten months to move from ground breaking to full commissioning for a plant of this scale and sophistication is no small achievement. Now to be exceeding our ramp up plan in a period of less than half a year is further testament to the expertise, dedication and determination of our team.”
“Continuum has proven to be a landmark initiative for the reprocessing industry,” adds Nick Brown, associate director for recycling at Coca-Cola Enterprises. “This state-of-the-art facility is a first for the industry and is truly transforming recycling in the UK.”
