Green Gateway
The last few months have seen big developments in green initiatives from leading technology companies in Thames Gateway London.
One of the biggest has been the announcement from recycling firm Closed Loop London that funding has been agreed for a £12 million plastic bottle recycling plant, backed by £1 million in grant support from the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Based at Dagenham Dock's Sustainable Industrial Park, a key regional hub for technology firms, the plant will open in December this year and be the first in the UK to turn old water, soft drinks and cosmetics bottles back into packaging suitable for food and drinks products.
The facility will take in around 35,000 tonnes per year of mixed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic bottles.
Using American technology, the plant will sort the bottles into PET and HDPE streams, turning the PET plastic back into material that can be made into resin and flakes suitable for making new packaging for food and drinks products.
An additional boost for the region was given when Marks & Spencer publicly announced its support of the scheme and intention to actively engage with the project. M&S said it would not only use the groundbreaking recycling centre but would provide the post-consumer bottles needed to run the process at the plant. It will also encourage its many suppliers to use the recycled PET and is currently helping to trial a new system for recycling HDPE funded by WRAP.
The development of the Closed Loop plant is providing a huge boost to Thames Gateway London's environmental technologies sector. The region is fast becoming a nucleus for all kinds of green industries and is building a reputation for its vast knowledge base and supply chain prospects. Aimed at both owner-occupiers and leaseholders, the Sustainable Industrial Park is attracting businesses that develop, trade and distribute products such as hydrogen fuel cells, photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and recycling appliances.
