Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill MP officially opened Viridor’s state-of-the-art Resource Recovery Centre at Avonmouth near Bristol.
Viridor says it is now able to fully recycle in the UK over 90% of the plastics it had previously exported.
It says the Avonmouth Resource Recovery facility will cut UK plastic waste exports by c. 8% and is ‘integral’ to delivering Viridor’s commitment to end plastic waste exports and invest in British recycling infrastructure.
Viridor has forecast that five additional plastics reprocessing facilities on this scale in the UK are needed to end all plastic waste exports from the UK.
The new Avonmouth site shows we can create jobs that have a positive impact on our environment, cut our CO2 emissions and give our plastics new life.
These reprocessing facilities would support investment of a third of a billion pounds and create jobs in communities across the country and make a significant contribution to the country’s Net Zero goals, it says.
Resources and Waste Minister, Jo Churchill (pictured below), said: “Viridor’s ambitious new facility will be a game changer in our work to recycle more of our waste and to reduce our use of polluting plastics – cutting exports of waste and making better use of our resources.”
“This Government is taking firm action to eliminate avoidable plastic waste and go further to reduce, reuse and recycle more of our resources[…] The new Avonmouth site shows we can create jobs that have a positive impact on our environment, cut our CO2 emissions and give our plastics new life.”
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a UK first, co-locating plastics reprocessing and an energy recovery facility (ERF) in one building.
The ERF will divert 320,000 tonnes of non-recyclable household waste from more polluting landfill every year, generating over 300 GWh of electricity per year, enough to power 84,000 homes.
The plastics reprocessing facility will reprocess over 80,000 tonnes of plastic every year – more than 1.6 billion bottles, tubs, and trays – creating recycled raw material to return to the economy.
Plastic recycling at the facility will save 126,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, the equivalent of taking over 67,000 cars off the road.
It has created 125 new jobs and over 500 people were employed onsite at the peak of its construction.
Five more reprocessing facilities like Avonmouth could end UK plastic waste exports and generate a third of a billion pounds in new investment.
20 principal contractors were engaged during the build, with 40% of orders being placed with firms from the South West of England and Wales.
Viridor’s CEO Kevin Bradshaw said: “The scale of what we are doing at Avonmouth shows that ending the export of plastic waste from UK shores can become a reality.
“It is right that consumers who pay for recycling see the benefits in local investment and jobs. Five more reprocessing facilities like Avonmouth could end UK plastic waste exports and generate a third of a billion pounds in new investment.
“This will create over 600 jobs in communities across the country and put the UK on track to deliver critical targets for recycling and net zero.
Viridor analysis published in November 2021, “Closing the Loop: Viridor’s roadmap to a truly circular plastics economy”, suggested that around 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year could be saved by increasing plastic packaging recycling rates to 70%, up from 51% today, the equivalent of taking c.685,000 cars off the road.
