The leading British producer of rPE raw materials (recycled polyethylene) reported 72% increase in 2021 and plans to continue that trend with the help of new investment in the following year.
With the help of a new recycling line, the recycler, which received £1 million from the UK government’s Resource Action Fund, was able to increase the amount of plastic packaging it recycles.
The performance of Chase Plastics following its acquisition in 2018 has been reinforced by the demand for recycled polyethylene (rPE) brought forth by the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT).
The grant from WRAP, which manages the fund on DEFRA’s behalf, allows Chase Plastics to expand its RECOTHENETM rPE product line and increase its recycling capacity.
The PPT was developed to incentivize producers to include recycled materials into their products, and this has increased the need for recyclates of a high enough quality that they do not degrade the functionality of plastic containers.
Expanding its RECOTHENE product line, Chase Plastics is better able to aid customers that are rethinking their high performance packaging in order to pay the tax.
“The Resource Action Fund was established to promote resource efficiency initiatives like these,” explained Claire Shrewsbury, director of WRAP. The WRAP-led UK Plastics Pact aims, in large part, to improve recycling infrastructure in the country. Chase Plastics’ recycling efforts are a great example of how the private sector, non-profits, and governments can collaborate to reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills and incinerators and improve resource management.
The chairman of Chase Plastics, David Harris, has expressed his satisfaction with the company’s current direction and optimism about its future. As manufacturers seek rPE to satisfy their customers’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and to counteract the Plastic Packaging Tax, demand for our high-performance materials continues to rise.
Since purchasing the company in 2018, “we have invested heavily in every part of the business,” so that it is now equipped to supply the polyethylene film sector in the UK with the sustainable raw materials it requires.