The plant is expected to process some 20,000 tons of material on a yearly basis

Sep 24, 2013 20:06 GMT  ·  By

A plastic bag recycling plant is scheduled to open in Woolwich, a district in South East London, by the end of this year. By the looks of it, the plant will be the first of its kind to have ever been built in the United Kingdom.

Information shared with the public says that, all in all, the plant is worth about ₤10.7 million (€12.69 million / $17.15 million).

The specialists who worked on this project say that, once up and running, the plant will be able to process some 20,000 tons of polythene shopping bags and packaging film on a yearly basis.

Specifically, it will turn this material into clean plastic granulate that can later on be used to manufacture new black bags and carrier bags, Business Green tells us.

The same source reports that, according to developer PlasRecycle, the practice of recycling plastic bags and other similar material yields noteworthy environmental benefits.

Thus, it appears that recycling just one ton of plastic cuts CO2 emissions by an impressive 1.5 tons.

By comparison, paper and cotton bags must be reused 3 and 131 times, respectively, before their carbon footprint shrinks to a value lower than that of a plastic bag, a report published by the country's Environment Agency back in 2011 shows.

“PlasRecycle brings a green option to local authorities and businesses that have previously had little choice but to export, landfill or incinerate their waste plastic bags and packaging film,” Paul Levett, the current chairman of PlasRecycle reportedly told the press.

“This initiative will create green jobs in the UK and can be a key part of producer responsibility programs for the packaging and retail industries,” he further argued.

Boris Johnson, London's current mayor, also expressed his support for this project, and said that, “[The plant will] to save huge sums of money while supporting new jobs and growth, and reducing carbon emissions in the capital.”