Duclo created to recycle film at Leeds site

Plastic packaging business Duo Plastics has announced an investment in a plastics recycling plant near Leeds.

According to Duo, which is based in Miles Platting, Manchester, it has invested £3 million in the creation of a new recycling business – Duclo Recycling – to recycle plastic film.

Duclo is installing recycling equipment including a ‘dry recycling’ facility and wash plant in a large warehouse building at Stourton, Leeds.

Parent company Duo is a supplier of plastic mail bags and film and will now collect post-consumer film material from customers and other sources for recycling at the 44,000 sq ft Stourton facility.

Six jobs have been created so far at Stourton and the company said the workforce will grow to more than 20 by the end of 2022.

"Duclo is to specialise in the recovery and recycling of plastic packaging, preventing end-of-use material going to waste and keeping it within closed loop recycling streams to improve resourcefulness," the company said in a statement. The target is to "around 7,000 tonnes of plastic by the end of 2022, with ambitions to double this next year by adding another wash plant".

Dale Brimelow, operations director at Duo, said: "Since Duo opened 34 years ago, we’ve always invested in ways to improve packaging through innovation, and enhance sustainability by reducing the reliance on virgin materials. To build on this further, we needed to create more direct ways to recycle material and establishing our own recycling division was a logical next step.

"Duclo Recycling gives us greater ability to boost the volume of plastic waste entering closed-loop recycling. We believe there's significant opportunity to improve how much post-consumer plastic content is recycled, as closed-loop infrastructure is lacking in the UK, yet it's the most effective way of keeping this valuable material in the economy. Duclo Recycling will keep the same types of material together during recycling, meaning the repurposing and reuse of plastics can be significantly extended to reduce environmental impact."

Duclo will be run by managing director Carol Cox who was managing director of OSO Environmental, which was backed by the Comply Direct compliance scheme. OSO was described as a "secondary wate material sourcing facility" which receives, stores and monitors the movement of waste, utilising plastic processing companies in the UK or overseas.

In 2019, Comply Direct said it invested in supporting UK re-processing in the form of OSO Environmental "for the benefit of our members."

Ms Cox said of Duclo: "There's huge demand for recycled plastic pellets that simply isn't being met. This demand is likely to increase as companies comply with the Plastic Packaging Tax and respond to growing calls for more resourceful packaging.

"Duclo Recycling will fill a gap in the market by providing manufacturers with greater access to recycled plastic, but our services don't stop there. We have the capacity to work with other forward-thinking organisations across the UK to enhance the resourcefulness of their plastic packaging and reduce waste going to landfill. We’ll continue to grow our recycling capacity with the addition of the second wash plant next year and by prioritising innovation and partnerships that increase the recovery of post-consumer plastic waste."

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