It's green for go: Swindon recycling company gets £1m cash boost!

By Claire Dukes - 20 December 2018

CommunityBusinessHome and Garden

Swindon's Recycling Technologies have received a staggering £1m loan with hopes this will enable the company to deliver the latest plastics recycling machines "at a faster pace".

Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP) has agreed in principle to grant a Growing Places Infrastructure Fund loan that will help Recycling Technologies speed up the production of its RT7000 machines as well as stimulate innovation, growth and productivity gains.

The SWLEP repayable loan has been made available from an £8m capital-only fund used to invest in projects that create new jobs and deliver economic growth to the Swindon and Wiltshire area. The £1 million loan granted to Recycling Technologies will support the production of the RT7000 machines at the Recycling Technologies manufacturing headquarters in Swindon.

Recycling Technologies has developed and patented a plastics recycling machine, the RT7000, that converts plastic waste back into oil called Plaxx® from which new plastics can be made. The machine heats up the plastic in the absence of oxygen to break the waste plastic down into Plaxx®.  This process allows the RT7000 to recycle plastics commonly considered unrecyclable such as plastic film, and laminated plastics such as food pouches and even crisp packets. These unrecyclable plastics are currently incinerated or buried.  Furthermore, the RT7000s are modular, allowing them to be transported and installed within existing waste management facilities where the majority of the residual plastic waste already arises. By taking the solution to the problem, financial and environmental costs of transporting residual plastic waste to an incinerator or landfill are reduced. Recycling Technologies has a pilot plant, the Beta Plant, in Swindon that is processing mixed plastic waste and produces Plaxx®.

In November this year, Recycling Technologies opened its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Stirling Court, Swindon.  The new 25,000 square foot factory facility has allowed Recycling Technologies to embark on the next stage of its development to manufacture its RT7000 plastics recycling machines for installation in the UK and internationally.

The announcement of the £1 million loan from SWLEP will help drive this next stage forward at a faster pace and Recycling Technologies is aiming to build its first full scale RT7000 and then to assemble and deliver an initial fleet of twelve RT7000s. The plan is to then ramp up to build ca. 200 machines a year. 

Paddy Bradley from SWLEP said: “The Growing Places Infrastructure Fund is designed to give organisations like Recycling Technologies an injection of capital to help take them to the next phase.  This will have a wider knock-on impact for the Swindon community as new jobs and opportunities are created.  We were impressed by Recycling Technologies’ application and plans and are delighted to be involved in a business that is building capacity for our community in order to address such an important issue.”

In parallel, Recycling Technologies is continuing its Crowdcube fundraise momentum and on 30 November launched its second campaign to raise a minimum of £1.3m with Crowdcube as it seeks to build and open its first commercial plant in Scotland. This follows its successful debut Crowdcube fundraise in February this year which closed at £3.7m, well ahead of its scheduled completion date. 

The current fundraise has already reached over £1 million with around 450 investors.

Adrian Griffiths, CEO, Recycling Technologies, said: “We have a goal to triple Europe’s current plastic recycling capability by 2027 through the provision of 10 million tonnes of urgently needed new waste plastic recycling capacity.  We believe our 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.”

Recycling Technologies is currently recruiting for roles in manufacturing, operations and engineering and intends to recruit in excess of 300 staff to reach its goal. Not only is the company creating high value manufacturing jobs in Swindon, it also supports the bid for the Institute of Technology to establish high-value apprenticeship programmes.

Find out how to join a scalable, industrial solution to help solve the world’s plastic waste problem and build much needed capacity: www.crowdcube.com

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