Recycling Technologies (Swindon / UK; www.recyclingtechnologies.co.uk) has opened a new headquarters and announced plans to add around 300 staff to its current workforce of 35. The purpose of these moves is to boost production of its "RT7000", a machine that can turn plastics waste back into oil.

The group has developed the machine to convert plastics waste considered unrecyclable, such as certain plastic films, laminated food pouches and crisp packets as well as black plastics, into an oil product known as "Plaxx". This can then be used as a feedstock to make other forms of plastic.

CEO Adrian Griffiths said, “We have a goal to triple Europe’s current plastic recycling capability by 2027 through the provision of 10m t of urgently needed new waste plastic recycling capacity. Our [2,300 m²] manufacturing facility here in Stirling Court, Swindon, will be capable of manufacturing 200 RT7000 machines a year to meet the growing demand for plastic recycling capacity in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.”

RT7000 machines are modular, featuring a thermal cracker, plus a regenerator and distillation unit, and relatively small in size. This allows them to be located within existing waste management facilities, reducing the financial and environmental costs of transporting residual plastics waste.

The company in September 2018 announced a partnership with UK compliance scheme Ecosurety (Bristol; www.ecosurety.com) to expand and improve the capacity of plastics recycling in the UK. For this purpose, Ecosurety is committing approximately GBP 3.2m (EUR 3.6m) to Recycling Technologies. Earlier in 2018, the company received an equity investment of GBP 1m from global commodities trader InterChem (Singapore; www.interchem.sg) as part of a strategic alliance – see Plasteurope.com of 28.05.2018.