Closed loop plastic recycling UK plant being built for supermarket material
Credit: Reconomy
Reconomy, a circular economy company, says its Eurokey brand is set to open an £20 million, 138,000 square-foot bespoke plastic recycling facility in Corby, UK.
The facility will be one of the UK’s largest dedicated plastic recycling plants focused on helping supermarkets, retailers and grocers recycle plastic material in a fully closed-loop system. The facility will receive several grades of plastic material that have been sorted at Eurokey’s state-of-the-art facility in nearby Kettering and recycle it into plastic pellets ready for manufacture into plastic packaging for supermarkets to use again.
Eurokey works with the UK’s largest supermarkets and retailers, and this investment will enable them to recycle plastic material domestically. At present, the UK remains heavily reliant on exporting plastic material due to the lack of domestic infrastructure capable of recycling this material at scale. Latest UK government data shows that only around half (51%) of plastic packaging is recycled in the UK*. This UK-based, closed-loop solution will be an important enabler of the circular economy and will support the sustainability goals of Reconomy’s large supermarket clients.
One of the main advantages of this new site is its proximity to Eurokey’s sorting facility in Kettering nearby, which will help reduce export dependency, lower transportation costs and associated carbon emissions, and cut reliance on virgin plastics.
The construction phase for the facility is almost complete and it is expected to become fully operational in the second half of 2026. At full capacity, the site will be able to recycle 38,000 tonnes of plastic material annually. The site will also create over 30 new jobs, stimulating local economic growth, the company says.
Commenting, Mike Benton, recycle loop managing director of Reconomy, said, “This is an exceptional milestone for our business and for the UK’s plastics recycling industry. This facility will play a major role in increasing domestic recycling capacity and reducing reliance on virgin plastic by keeping high-quality material in circulation. It will also benefit the local economy.
“This investment marks another major step in our rapid growth journey as we continue to invest in our world-class infrastructure, data-driven solutions and technology to help businesses minimise waste, conserve resources, lower costs and carbon emissions. We look forward to working with all our stakeholders to accelerate circularity and sustainability.”
*UK statistics on waste – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data/uk-statistics-on-waste
