Plastics recycler Jayplas has announced plans for a £2.5-million investment in new extrusion, print and conversion equipment for its new packaging division in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
The equipment, which will be installed in January 2016, will add to that already being used to create printed long-life plastic bags (‘bags for life’) for retailers. It is expected that demand for this service will increase once new legislation comes into effect later this year. From October, retailers in England with more than 250 employees will be required to charge a minimum of five pence for plastic single-use carrier bags (similar to charges already in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
Jayplas has said its UK-based production process could offer a ‘commercially-attractive solution’ for retailers looking for alternatives to single-use bags, while ‘contributing to the circular economy’.
It is expected that the new machinery will help the company increase production capacity by over 7,500 tonnes per year.
The plastic recycling company currently claims to process around 200,000 tonnes of waste per annum for over 200 customers across domestic, retail, commercial and industrial markets at its eight recycling and recycled product manufacturing sites across the UK.
Helping retailers ‘provide the sustainability credentials their consumers are demanding’
Commenting on the investment, Michael Maxwell, Operations Director at Jayplas, said: “Sustainable plastics recycling is a big issue and recycling their own plastic waste helps our customers provide the sustainability credentials their consumers are demanding.
“Our new investment is a direct response to the retail industry's need for larger levels of sustainability within their own supply chain and it shows that Jayplas continues to lead the development of the UK's recycling infrastructure to meet the high demand for quality recycled plastics and packaging."
Find out more about Jayplas’s new plastic film packaging division.
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