Veolia, a giant in the fields of waste management and environmental services in Europe, announced earlier this month it bought the shuttered facility with plans to manufacture plastic bottles from recycled material.
In its initial stage, the operation will take in only HDPE bottles and will process the material at a rate of 16,600 tons per year, according to a Veolia spokesperson.
Two-thirds of that tonnage will go into producing clear HDPE and the rest will be used to manufacture colored HDPE and PP.
When Closed Loop ran the facility, it accepted HDPE and PET and took in 10 percent of all recovered beverage containers in the U.K.
Veolia stated it feels it is in a better position than Closed Loop to make the facility solvent. The Veolia spokesperson noted the operation will get support from the company’s nearby Rainham plastic recycling facility.
At first, the plant will operate at a third of its capacity and employ 30 people.
“This plant will be able to recycle all of the capital’s empty milk bottles,” said London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, “a mountain of waste that would otherwise have been sent to landfill.”
Last July, Closed Loop began indicating it was being squeezed by market conditions.