Supermarket Morrisons has bought a significant stake in a Glenrothes recycling facility that will create 60 jobs.
The facility is co-owned and constructed by Yes Recycling who announced the Whitehill Industrial Estate site in September.
It means Morrisons will become the first supermarket to own its recycling operations.
The facility is the first of its kind in the world. It will turn flexible food packaging that is hard to recycle into plastic flakes, pellets and boards.
The site will take 15,000 of tonnes of flexible plastic packaging a year.
Keeping plastic in a ‘closed loop’
Co-owner of Yes Recycling Omer Kutluoglu said: “This is a ground-breaking site using new patented plastic recycling technology, which we’ve developed over the last seven years.
“It is a blueprint for the future and will help to kick-start the UK’s plastics recycling industry.
“It will mean we can keep plastic in our own country’s ‘circular economy’ and out of our seas and oceans.”
The Fife recycling plant will take all low grade plastics including sweet wrappers, crisp packets, salad bags, and food film.
When these materials enter the site, all of the plastic material is washed and sorted.
It is then broken down and turned into flakes and pellets which can be used to make new plastic products in a ‘closed loop’.
Other pellets are compressed into Ecosheets which can be recycled again at the end of their life.
In the past this material may have gone to landfill or been incinerated for energy.
Morrisons takes on recycling challenge
Morrisons has committed that by 2025, it will recycle and reuse the equivalent amount of plastic it puts on to the market within its own recycling facilities.
It has already announced it will reduce its own brand plastic packaging by 50% by the same year.
Morrisons is also looking at ways to use the recycled material from the site for a range of applications, including store fixtures and fittings.
Procurement director Jamie Winter said: “Lots of work has been done by retailers to reduce plastic, but little to recycle what remains.
“We’re taking on that challenge and making a significant investment in a state-of-the-art soft plastic recycling site.
“It’ll take problematic plastics, recycle them here in the UK, and give them a new life.”