NEWS


Viridor blames UK government for plastics recycling closure


After a strategic review of its plastics packaging recycling site at Avonmouth, UK-based waste management company Viridor has decided to close the plant, only two years after it was opened. A separate review of its Rochester site is ongoing. “Viridor’s UK mechanical


recycling operations have been negatively impacted by persis- tently and increasingly challeng- ing market conditions, and the absence of planned legislation to increase rates of plastic recycling in the UK,” the group said in a statement. In March 2022, government


minister Jo Churchill officially opened the £317m facility, which had the capacity to recycle over 80,000 tpa of plastics packaging waste and produce rPET, rPP and rHDPE. Calling the closure a “difficult


Left: The facility in Avonmouth, with capacity to recycle over 80,000 tpa of plastics packaging waste, was opened in March 2022


with reduced demand for recycled plastic and packaging products from the consumer goods sector, have had a material impact on the financial viability of Viridor’s UK mechanical recycling operations,” it said.


decision”, Viridor explained that despite sustained investment over the last four years, recycling rates are still below where they were projected to be in 2020. Policies announced and planned under the previous government to increase UK recycling, as set out in the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy, have not been implemented, it said. “The significant delay in imple- menting these policies, combined


Scottish government is sued over bottle return scheme


Several mainstream news outlets including the BBC report that the Scottish government (a devolved government in the UK) is being sued over the failure of the bottle return scheme. The scheme was scheduled to launch in August 2023, but was curtailed following a dispute with the UK government. Circularity Scotland, a


non-profit firm set up to manage the scheme, was closed with debts of more than £86m. According to the news reports, Biffa, one of its main creditors, is now suing the Scottish government


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and seeking up to £166.2m of reparations, including £115m in projected lost profits and around £50m on investments it made. At an initial hearing


earlier this year, the UK- based waste management company issued a statement saying: “Biffa was selected by Circularity Scotland Limited as the logistics partner for the delivery of the Scottish deposit return scheme and invested significant sums to support its timely and successful implementation. This was done in good faith and on the expectation and


PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | November/December 2024


understanding that the delivery of the scheme had been mandated by the Scottish government.” The Court of Session in


Edinburgh was told during a second hearing that Scottish ministers were negligent when they claimed the scheme was viable, and that Biffa was given “clear assurances” from former Green minister Lorna Slater that the scheme would go ahead. Scottish government lawyers said Biffa was aware of the risks involved and that the legal action should be dismissed. � www.biffa.co.uk


This UK policy factor has been


exacerbated by European market conditions, it said, including: overca- pacity in the global virgin polymer market leading to significantly reduced demand and prices for recycled plastics; an increase in imports of recycled plastics from low-cost countries into Europe displacing domestic supply. � https://viridor.co.uk


IN BRIEF...


LyondellBasell has announced it is now the owner of APK in Merse- burg, Germany, which will be fully integrated and continue as part of the polyolefins group. LYB said it hopes to further develop APK’s solvent-based technology for LDPE. www.lyondellbasell.com www.apk.group


LyondellBasell, Infinity Recycling, and CPChem, have invested in Alterra, allowing it to accelerate the commercialisation of its chemical recycling technology at its facility in Akron, Ohio, US. https://alterraenergy.com


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


IMAGE: VIRIDOR


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