Biffa partners to supply UK packaging producer with PET

Biffa, a large integrated waste management business based in the United Kingdom, has entered into a partnership with Esterform Packaging, a U.K.-based independent producer of plastic bottles for carbonated drinks and alcohol, to supply the bottle producer with recycled plastic.

According to a news release from Biffa, Esterform will use about 6,000 metric tons of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from Biffa at its factories in Leeds and Worcestershire every year. Biffa processes that PET at its Seaham facility, which the company says is capable of recycling more than 2 billion plastic bottles per year.

“We’re delighted to be working alongside Esterform who share our passion for creating a circular economy—a system where materials are recycled for as long as possible,” says Chris Hanlon, Biffa’s commercial director of polymers. “We look forward to a long and successful partnership as we continue to work with them to grow the recycled content of their PET bottles.”

Biffa reports that packaging producers in the U.K. are now required to use at least 30 percent recycled plastic in their products in order to avoid the nation’s new plastic packaging tax. The deal with Esterform was signed after the plastic recycled at Biffa’s plant in Seaham was awarded food-grade status by the European Food Safety Authority.