Recycling firm’s £13m investment

Plastics recycling pioneer Biffa is doubling its high-density polyethene plastic recycling capacity with a £13m investment in its facility in Washington.

The move will allow the firm to recycle a further 14,000 tonnes of the material – commonly used for milk bottles – growing its total annual capacity to 39,000 tonnes – or 1.6bn bottles a year.

The investment will create 50 new jobs in the local area – where it already employs 115 people at Washington and its state of the art £27.5m plastics recycling facility at Seaham.

The expansion is the latest in a series of significant strategic investments made by the group.

In the last five years Biffa has invested over £54.5m in plastics recycling infrastructure with plans to quadruple its capacity by 2030.

The extended capacity aims to benefit packaging producers in the UK, who from 2022 will be required to use at least 30% recycled plastic in their products to avoid the new plastic packaging tax.

Mick Davis, chief operating officer for Biffa’s resources and energy division, said: “This investment in Washington is another example of Biffa on-shoring recycling capacity in our strategic journey to creating closed loop recycling in the UK.

"We look forward to being able to offer UK manufacturers more high-quality recycled plastics and help prevent the export of plastics for reprocessing.

“The North East is playing a leading role in the UK’s green industrial revolution and we are delighted to be creating a further 50 new jobs as part of these plans.”