Nestlé provides pre-investment of £1.65m to Scottish recycler of flexible plastics

Nestlé UK and Ireland has announced a new partnership with Fife-based recycling firm Yes Recycling to process hard-to-recycle plastics.

Nestlé, Yes Recycling’s first investor, has provided a pre-investment of £1.65 million towards its plastic recycling plant in Fife which will turn flexible plastics, typically used in food packaging, into building materials.

The multi-million pound plant will have the capability to take 15,000 tonnes of this plastic when it opens. It will produce an alternative to plywood to be used in construction, retail spaces and the agriculture industry.

The pre-investment has been managed by Ecosurety on behalf of Nestlé through the forward sale of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) that will be supplied to Nestlé when the plastic recycling plant is in operation. The innovative approach has enabled Yes Recycling to invest in this new flexible plastic recycling facility in the UK.

“Without the significant financial support of Nestlé, our ground-breaking plant for hard to recycle materials could never have come to fruition. Supporting domestic recycling and developing innovative solutions for complex plastics is a necessity for the environment and the economy,” Omer Kutluoglu, Owner of Yes Recycling, said.

Packaging, such as KitKat wrappers, Purina pet food pouches, Rowntree confectionery sharing bags and Nestlé Cereal bags will be taken from kerbside material collected by Dunfermline-based Cireco, as well as some commercial streams. In the past this material may not have been recycled, as a recycling facility was not available to process this type of waste at scale locally.

Nestlé said this will be the first time in the UK these types of flexible plastic, gathered from kerbside collections, will be recycled at scale, with the plant set to fully open by the end of this year.

“It is really exciting to be partnering with Yes Recycling and helping fund this new plant in Fife,” Alison Bramfitt, group packaging manager at Nestlé UK and Ireland, said.

“We are working hard at Nestlé to create circularity for our packaging so it can have multiple lives and uses and doesn’t end up as waste in landfill. Being able to partner with pioneering technology such as this is just one of the ways we are taking steps forward on this journey.”

Earlier this year manufacturers including Nestlé have announced the Flexible Plastic Fund to improve flexible plastic recycling in the UK.