Plastics recycled

British Polythene Industries (BPI) has acquired the plastics washing and recycling equipment previously operated by Integrated Polymers and Evolution Polymers on the Capital Valley Industrial Estate in Rhymney, South Wales.

The Integrated plant was initially installed in late 2005 to recycle agricultural, packaging and industrial waste plastics. The operation however was not viable and the company went into liquidation in March this year.

BPI has not bought Integrated Polymers as a going-concern but has acquired its equipment only. The company plans a major investment to upgrade the plant to enable it to process waste farm plastics at more viable outputs and will manage the enhanced operation from the existing unit on the Capital Valley Industrial Estate.

In addition to the greater focus on recycling used plastic in recent years, the implementation of the Agricultural Waste Regulations in 2006 has created a demand for dedicated farm plastics recycling facilities in the UK.

 “This acquisition complements our existing waste farm plastic recycling activity in Dumfries and is only a few hundred metres from our existing plastic recycling and building film manufacturing facility in Rhymney. Our Dumfries plant currently reprocesses 30,000 tonnes of agricultural waste each year. The extra capacity which this investment brings will allow us to reprocess an additional 7,000 tonnes per annum enabling BPI to meet the growing demand in this marketplace." said Andrew Green, Managing Director of BPI Recycled Products.

"It is an excellent strategic fit for our business because a large amount of this waste plastic arises in Wales and the South West of England. As Birch Farm Plastics, based in South Wales, collects exclusively for us throughout the UK, this will help to reduce the distance some of this waste has to travel before it is recycled. We still have plans to establish a large-scale farm plastic washing and recycling facility in South Wales for this very reason and, whilst this latest investment will not give us the final capacity we have planned to install, it will provide the foundation for additional investment in this region in due course,” he added.