ECO Plastics to double recycling capacity

ECO Plastics, Europe's leading plastic bottle recycler, has raised £24m to drive expansion plans at its Hemswell recycling facility. The funds provide a solid financial platform for the company's exciting expansion plans, including their joint venture with Coca-Cola Enterprises - unveiled in March - which will more than double British production of food-grade recycled material (rPET) for soft drinks packaging.

The expansion funds include a £5m equity investment by Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited (LEF.L), the previously announced £5m from Coca Cola Enterprises to form the joint venture, with the balance funded through new banking facilities. The funds will support the construction and operation of an expansion to ECO Plastics' existing plastics processing plant, as well as the investment required to build and operate the Joint Venture business that will supply rPET to Coca-Cola Enterprises over the next 10 years. ECO Plastics' Hemswell facility is already the largest and most sophisticated in Europe. The expansion, which secured planning approval in May, will increase overall processing capacity at the plant from 100,000 tonnes to 140,000 tonnes of plastic bottles per year, just under half the total collected in the UK last year. The expanded facility will be fully operational during 2012.