Greiner invests in recycled dairy packaging

A £2.7m (EUR3.18m) investment by packaging supplier Greiner will allow it to install a line for recycled dairy packaging to produce products such as creams, yogurts and desserts from post-consumer plastic waste. The money will allow Greiner packaging to increase its sales by £2.5m in 2011 at its Northern Ireland factory. The company also plans to install three additional lines, all of which will be in operation by February 2011.

The new dairy packaging is partially produced from post consumer waste, such as PET bottles, which are collected at kerb side bins and then cleaned and reprocessed. The shredded flakes from bottles are then reprocessed into new packaging at the plant.

The money will also be invested into integrated wind propelled technology which balances the heating and cooling elements in its production process and allows utilisation of waste heat energy. As a result, the firm said it is benefitting from a reduction in water consumption of 6m cubic meters and reduce its energy operating costs by 50 per cent each year.