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The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is urging companies to establish an industrial sorting and closed-loop recycling process for post-use HDPE bottles.

This follows the completion of a WRAP development project that demonstrated HDPE milk bottles could be recycled into new ones on a commercially viable and environmentally sound basis. Such a facility would be unique in the UK.

“It is a genuine case of ‘we have the technology’,” said Dr Paul Davidson, WRAP’s plastics technology manager (pictured). “We have introduced a capital support competition to fund up to 30 per cent of the cost of the infrastructure, plant and equipment to enable UK industry to lead the world in establishing such a recycling process.”

Michelle O’Riley, WRAP’s capital grant manager, added: “We aim to achieve up to 30 per cent recycled HDPE content in the manufacture of one quarter of the UK’s plastic milk bottle production. We also want to increase processing capacity for HDPE recycled plastic in food applications by 13,000 tonnes/yr. To meet this target, we may even support more than one plant.”

WRAP’s initial R&D project was delivered by a consortium of leading European companies and research institutes, led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Germany. Partners included Dairy Crest, Nampak Plastics and Delleve Plastics, as well as RAPRA Technology in the UK.

Companies wishing to apply for the Plastics Capital Support Programme should email the WRAP Capital Grants team, quoting reference MDP007, at capital.support@wrap.org.uk before August 29.