Plans for UK’s first plastic recycling park submitted

367,500 tonnes of plastic are expected to be recycled through the latest stage of the plastic park development in the North West of England.

The £165m project is designed to tackle a share of the UK’s 4.9m tonnes of annual plastic waste, helping to cut carbon emissions by bringing together processing and treatment technologies to get the most value from plastic waste.

Peel NRE has submitted a planning application for the plastic park to be developed at Protos, the company’s strategic energy and resource hub near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

Two facilities have already received planning consent at the Plastic Park, including the UK’s first waste plastic to hydrogen facility using Powerhouse Energy technology and a PET recycling plant that will turn used food and beverage packaging into new packaging products.

Richard Barker, development director at Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, said: ‘As our pre-application consultation showed, the issue of plastic waste is high up the agenda. By clustering various treatment technologies together in one place, we can maximise the amount of plastic that can be recycled and create a circular economy in the North West. Over time, the flow of materials between the different facilities means vehicle movements will reduce and we will use any plastic that can’t be recycled to create hydrogen which can be used as a clean fuel for HGV’s, buses and cars.

‘This will not only create 147 jobs and address the urgent need to tackle plastic waste, it’ll also deliver significant carbon savings, helping the North West reach its ambition to be the first net zero region in the UK.’

The latest planning application features a materials recycling facility, which will separate out dry mixed recyclables into different waste streams to send them for recycling, and two plastic recycling facilities which will separate plastic waste into different types and wash and process plastic waste into flaked plastic that can be used to make new products.

The plans also include a polymer laminate recycling facility and a hydrogen refuelling station.

A decision on the planning application is expected from Cheshire West and Chester Council in early 2022.

Photo supplied by Peel NRE