The news comes as cce and eco plastics announced the official opening of their joint venture, continuum recycling, yesterday 10 may. The £15 million facility is a first for great britain, according to cce, and brings the recycling process fullcircle, with used plastic packaging sorted and reprocessed domestically, before returning to gb shelves as part of another bottle. Speaking to pn at the official opening, cocacola enterprises recycling director patrick mcguirk said &ldquothis is a gamechanging facility. Our goal is to transform recycling in great britain &ndash that is a big goal and this is part of it. &ldquothis is the first uk facility that can deal with more than half the plastic put in a recycling bin in britain &ndash that is game changing. &ldquoand the fact that this facility exists to inspire the consumer is game changing.
The sheer scale and complexity of the plant is gamechanging.&rdquo &lsquoblueprint for packaging industry&rsquo speaking to pn, eco plastics managing director jonathan short added &ldquothis is a game changer for our business and it gives additional credibility to our business. &ldquowe have lobbied very hard for a number of years now and with the partnership with cocacola the doors of power do open a lot easier. The ability to lobby has become easier.
They understand the issues around recyclability. &ldquoif you are working in a partnership it is much easier to overcome hurdles. I would like to think that this joint venture will act not just as a blueprint for cocacola, other businesses and europe but for the packaging industry as a whole.&rdquo opened by environment minister lord taylor of holbeach, yesterday, the continuum recycling plant will more than double the amount of bottlegrade recycled plastic rpet previously created in britain, and will allow cce to meet its commitment to use 25 rpet in all its bottles by the end of 2012, according to cce.
The factory is located at eco plastics&rsquo existing site in lincolnshire. 6 week bottle continuum recycling will be used this summer by cocacola as part of an initiative to collect coke and additional pet soft drinks bottles and turn them back into new bottles on the shelves within six weeks. Speaking at event, eco plastics chairman peter gangstead outlined the importance of recycling bottles in the uk. He said he hoped that this model &ldquocould be exported in the uk and overseas&rdquo. He also said that there were further opportunities to recycle more bottles and &ldquowe should not be exporting and landfilling jobs&rdquo. Gangstead also outlined challenges of educating the consumer to recycle more and obtaining more quality materials.
Jobs and growth environment minister lord taylor of holbeach said &ldquowith the opening of this facility, the uk is now home to the world&rsquos largest plastics recycling plant, bringing jobs and growth to the rural economy of lincolnshire. Cocacola enterprises and eco plastics innovation and investment has made this project a reality &ndash exactly what we want to see more of right across the country. &ldquorecycling is a growing industry, and investment in these types of projects not only makes good business sense &ndash it will help us achieve our ultimate aim of a zerowaste green economy.
