Biffa, an integrated waste management company in the UK, announced that it has signed a multi-million-pound partnership with Esterform Packaging, a UK-based producer of plastic bottles for carbonated drinks and alcohol to squash and cooking oil, to supply the bottle producer with recycled plastic.

Esterform will use 6,000 tonnes of PET from Biffa at its factories in Leeds and Worcestershire every year. That PET is processed at Biffa’s Seaham facility in County Durham, which has a capacity for recycling more than two billion bottles per year, according to the statement.

"We’re delighted to be working alongside Esterform who share our passion for creating a ‘circular economy’, a system where materials are recycled for as long as possible,” said Chris Hanlon, Biffa’s Commercial Director – Polymers. "We look forward to a long and successful partnership as we continue to work with them to grow the recycled content of their PET bottles.”

From this year, packaging producers in the UK will be required to use at least 30 per cent recycled plastic in their products to avoid the new plastic packaging tax. 

“Biffa’s recycled plastic is a great product, so we’re delighted to have secured this deal with them,” noted Mark Tyne, Managing Director of Esterform. "PET is a very robust, flexible material that we use to produce containers that are light, resealable, safe and strong, and which can be recycled many times to make more new bottles in the future."