MBA adds UK plastics-recycling plant

Capable of processing 60,000 tons/yr of shredder residue, a new resin-recycling joint venture between European Metal Recycling Limited (EMR; Warrington, England) and MBA Polymers Inc. (MBA; Richmond, CA) has been announced, with a facility slated to open by early 2009. To be called MBA Polymers UK, the operation will take shredder residue generated by metal-reclamation plants upstream that strip down automobiles, consumer electronics, appliances, and other end-of-life durable goods.

MBA says some 10 million tons of plastics are landfilled or incinerated at high economic and environmental costs annually because it is considered too complicated or expensive to recover and separate them. According to the company, partnering with EMR, which, as its name implies, focuses on metals, will result in a largely metal-free stream of waste for MBA to process.

EMR processes more than 10 million tonnes/yr of post-consumer, -industrial, and –demolition waste, generating more than 100 grades of recycled products. Globally, EMR operates more than 100 sites, with average annual compounded sales growth of 20% over the last decade, and turnover above £1.7 billion in the fiscal year ending December 2006.

The England facility will be the third in MBA’s multi-plant growth plan, with plastics-recycling facilities in Guangzhou, China and Kematen, Austria, in addition to its Richmond, CA pilot plant. MBA says that for every ton of virgin plastic that is replaced, 2-3 tons of carbon dioxide are kept from entering the atmosphere.—[email protected]