The founder and former Deputy Chairman of ECOPlastics Recycling, Jonathan Short, has set up a new plastics reprocessing venture, Plastics Reclamation Limited (PRL).

Set up in partnership with ECOPlastics Recycling’s former Commercial Director, Duncan Oakes, PRL aims to ‘capitalise upon the significant growth in generation of by-products from plastics reprocessing operations within the UK and across Europe’. It provides separation, washing, and shredding/granulation processes for scrap plastic, as well as consultancy and trading services.

The north-east based company, which utilises the facilities at agricultural plastics reprocessing company Agri.cycle, began operations last month and expects to be able to annually process approximately 15,000 tonnes of scrap plastic, including high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polypropylene (PP).

Its process lines include:

• ferrous and non-ferrous metal removal;
• density separation;
• shredding and granulation; and
• washing/drying

‘Turning a worthless waste product into something that can be used’

Speaking to Resource, Founding Director of PRL, Jonathan Short, said: “We have set up Plastics Reclamation Limited as we think there is an opportunity to source unwanted scrap plastic, treat it in some form, and turn it into a valuable product that can be used in the manufacturing industry, whether in the UK, Europe or in Asia.

“Historically, by-products and by-wastes from the plastics industry would have gone to Asia, but the standard of scrap plastic accepted by Asia is rising. More and more of this material is now ending up in waste-to-energy plants or landfill. Increasingly, the material needs a bit of work doing to it to clean it up to meet a specification. And that’s where we can help. We can put it through separation, extraction and washing processes, which adds value to that material and makes it attractive to customers.”

He added that the company would also be attractive to businesses wishing to utilise PRL’s “extensive database of contacts” to trade material overseas.

Oakes added: “There are a lot of low-end plastic materials out there, that – with the correct know-how – can be turned into a product that is in high demand. That is what PRL will focus on. It could be as simple as removing labels or metal fragments from rigid plastic streams, but it’s these slight improvements that take something from being a worthless waste product, to something that can be used by manufacturers.”

He concluded: “It’s a win-win situation; the industry is able to divert its by-products from disposal, and we, in turn, are able to clean it up and offer manufacturers a material that they want.”

To find out more about Plastics Reclamation Limited, please contact Jonathan Short via email.