News | Industry Updates Partnership to set up recycling facility in the UK


multiple lives and uses and partnering with Plastic Energy is just one of the ways we are taking steps forward on this journey. “We want to increase


Nestlé UK and Ireland has joined forces with Plastic Energy, a major chemical recycling company, with the aim of developing a plant in the UK. The two companies will come together to


explore the scope for the first commercial large-scale facility of its kind in the UK. Plastic Energy, which already has two


similar recycling plants in Spain, uses and develops specialist recycling technology to transform traditionally hard-to-recycle plastic waste, such as confectionery wrappers. These can then be used as a replacement for fossil oils to make food- grade plastics. A preliminary study with the aim of developing the new plant in the UK will be conducted by Plastic Energy, partially funded by Nestlé UK and Ireland. This will


start in early November and will take around six months to complete. Nestlé continues to explore new ways to


both recycle packaging and increase food- grade recycled content within it. Plastic Energy’s recycling technology offers both a sustainable solution for hard-to-recycle plastic packaging that would otherwise go to landfill or incineration and an innovative source of high quality recyclate to use in Nestlé products. Group packaging manager at Nestlé UK


and Ireland, Alison Bramfitt said: “The issue of packaging waste is one where we all have a role to play, to not only cut our use of virgin plastic, but also make sure the plastic in our packaging has a second life. We are working hard to create a circular life span for our packaging so it can have


the amount of recycled plastic we use but there are currently real challenges in the supply of recycled content for food packaging in the UK. That’s why we are excited about the potential of this partnership with Plastic Energy. We hope the outcome of the feasibility study will help offer more insight into the options for supporting the infrastructure in recycling capability in this country.” Carlos Monreal, founder and chief executive of Plastic Energy said: “We are excited to partner with Nestlé on this project which we hope will pave the way for brands to start incorporating more recycled content into their products. Our goal at Plastic Energy is to support a circular economy for plastics by recycling end-of-life plastics that would otherwise go to landfill or incineration. “The recycled oils that we produce from


our process replace fossil oils to create new virgin-quality plastics that can be used for food-grade packaging.”


Hot noodle kiosks at service stations


Mr Lee’s Pure Foods has announced a partnership with Moto Service Stations to launch their Hot Noodle Bars at their locations. The first service station to get their noodle kiosk is Cherwell


Valley, with more to follow shortly. This pilot is scheduled to last six months, with a potential to become a permanent feature. Martin Verspeak, the COO for Mr Lee’s Noodles Kiosk


Technologies commented: “Having invested in the development and trialling of Mr Lee’s Noodle Bar concept for the past several years, we are extremely pleased with these developments towards commercial implementation and scaling up. “The kiosk and tech side can represent an important value to the


overall business, with the healthy food vending opportunity now beginning to disrupt the traditional low tech, unhealthy vending industry.” Ed Sutton, head of retail category management commented:


“Providing access to healthy hot food 24/7 was always high on our priorities and with all the current restrictions due to COVID-19, having an unmanned machine delivering exactly that couldn’t come in a better time.”


10 | vendinginternational-online.com


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