Biffa plc, an UK – based plastic waste management company, would be starting to recycle HDPE (R-HDPE) in its newly build line, which is situated close to its Redcar production facility.

The company had applied to Redcar and Cleveland council for establishing R-HDPE production line in March 2022 and it got the same in the month of July, following which it had started its construction activities.

This is the company’s third HDPE recycling line (R-HDPE), and it has built this at a cost of £16 million (appx. USD 20 million) and would recycle juice and milk bottles made of HDPE, shipped in huge volumes from its materials recycling facility and by opening up this facility and this would add up to 24,000 tons of capability to its existing production facility at Redcar.

According to Biffa, the plant equipment is currently fully installed prior to commissioning, and "full operation" should be achieved by March 2023, subject to the Environment Agency's approval.

According to Biffa, the expansion of the plant will also result in the creation of upwards of 20 new jobs.

The Redcar facility, designed to process approximately 50,000 tons of material, was built in 2008 by Biffa. According to Biffa, Redcar was the first commercial R-HDPE food grade production plant in the world.

The firm is anticipating getting total production outputs of R-HDPE of about 17,000 tons from its Redcar facility once this line gets started.

Within its polymer recycling portfolio, which also includes Washington (U.K.) and Seaham (U.K.) which recycle PP and PET, respectively, Biffa currently has the capacity to recycle approximately 155,000 tons.

As the competition to process plastic in the UK continues, the company has stated that it hopes to increase the production capacity to 240,000 tons by 2030.

The market for recycled plastics like R-HDPE in the United Kingdom and Europe is currently not doing well for a number of reasons, some of which include rising costs for energy. This is expected to change however, as more businesses announce plant acquisitions, expansions, and the opening of new recycling facilities.

As on 16th December 2022, the average price of R-HDPE in Northwestern Europe stood at about USD 1,545 per MT for light pellets grade.