UK food grade plastics reprocessor Closed Loop Recycling has revealed plans to build its second bottle recycling facility at a cost of £12m in North Wales.

The plant will be based in Deeside, Flintshire, and will process 50,000tpa of PET and HDPE plastic bottles – or 1.25bn bottles.

It will produce 15,000tpa of food grade PET, 12,000tpa of food grade HDPE plus at least 15,000tpa of non-food grade plastic recyclate. It is scheduled to be up and running by autumn next year.

The new plant will be much larger than the firm’s facility in Dagenham, East London, which opened earlier this year (PRW.com 10 July 2008).

Closed Loop said it had already secured customers for 60% of the expected recycled PET and HDPE output. Customers include major brands that backed the Dagenham plant - such as Solo Cup Europe, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Nampak and Logoplast.

Waste management company Veolia Environmental Services will supply the new plant with plastic bottles. It already supplies Closed Loop’s Dagenham site.

Closed Loop Recycling md, Chris Dow, described Deeside as an “ideal location” for the new facility as it has “excellent transport links” and is so close to Manchester and Merseyside.

The Welsh Assembly has contributed just under one million to the project and has also provided practical help and advice. A bank loan was provided by Allied Irish Bank and private equity funding has come from the Foresight Group.

The new site will create 50 jobs and is part of Closed Loop’s plans to have three more similar recycling facilities up and running in the UK within the next five years.