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Morrisons has announced it will become the first supermarket to own its own recycling operations through the acquisition of a significant stake in a new recycling site in Fife, reprocessing ‘hard-to-recycle’ soft plastics.
The retailer 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, to develop greater recycling in the UK.
According to Morrisons, the Fife site is being constructed by recycling plant specialists Yes Recycling, set to turn hard-to-recycle flexible food packaging into plastic flakes, pellets and boards.
At current capacity, the site will take 15,000 tonnes of flexible plastic packaging a year.
The hard-to-recycle soft plastic will be sent to the site from Morrisons distribution sites and by Cireco Scotland who process kerbside collection material.
Jamie Winter, procurement director at Morrisons, 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.
Omer Kutluoglu, co-owner of Yes Recycling, added: “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.”
