Hertfordshire firm to build bottle recycling in Wales

A Hertfordshire-based plastics reprocessor has teamed up with a social enterprise to develop a 20,000 tonne a year recycling plant for PET and HDPE plastics in South Wales.

Baylis Recycling and Plastics Sorting, which is part of the community interest company Cleanstream Group, are to use £850,000 in grants to develop the bottle recycling plant at Ebbw Vale in South Wales.

The two organisations are already working together in the South West and Wales and hope to have the new facility ready by March 2010.

Janet Rowlings, project manager for the Ebbw Vale development, told the Letsrecycle website that the new facility and the existing plant in Keynsham would work together.

"Once Ebbw Vale is up and running we’ll be able to take mixed plastics into both plants - HDPE to one plant for hot wash and flake and the other will hot wash and flake PET."

PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is mainly used in bottles for fizzy drinks and oven-ready meal trays.

HDPE, or high-density polyethylene, is used mainly in bottles for milk and washing-up liquids.