Viridor awarded contract to upgrade recycling in Plymouth

The new £6m facility will sort all the kerbside collected recyclate and enable Plymouth residents to now include glass in their recycling boxes.As well as recovering  cartons, aluminium and steel cans, mixed paper, cardboard and glass, the facility will have five near infra-red optical sorters to enable different types of plastic to be segregated, achieving an exceptionally high quality output from the recycling process.Work on the plant will commence in May 2014 and Viridor will start taking the recycling from Plymouth from 1 May 2014 to their MRF in Kent.The refurbished facility at Chelson Meadow is scheduled to open April 2015.

Chris Jonas, Head of Strategic Development at Viridor said  “Viridor is delighted to deliver projects such as this and invest in state-of-the-art sortation equipment on behalf of our local authority clients.   This facility reflects Viridor’s focus on delivering quality recyclate and meeting the requirements of our material reprocessers.  This MRF site will be supported by the other specialist glass, paper and plastics recycling plants that we pperate and are developing.”

Plymouth Councillor Brian Vincent, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “This is a significant landmark for us. We have wanted glass recycling right on people’s doorsteps for some time, but needed to replace the material recycling facility we had as it was not up to the job.

“This partnership with Viridor will not only help the Council keep waste out of landfill and council tax down but will make recycling easier for residents”