Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk has visited Chase Plastics in Brandon, Suffolk, where he toured the factory, met the workforce and was appraised of the challenges currently facing the UK Plastics Recycling Industry.
Discussions focused on;
• The UK’s reliance on the export of plastic waste, with dire environmental and economic consequences.
• The UK’s lack of competitiveness driven by unsustainable operating costs, especially energy and far higher levels of regulation than in competing nations.
During the factory tour, Mr Timothy was guided through the polythene recycling process by Production Director Mehmet Hussein who further explained the variety of products that recycled polythene can be used in to reduce the use of virgin polymer by the UK Plastics Industry.
Speaking of the visit, CEO David Harris said:
“We are grateful for Mr Timothy’s commitment to the local economy and his significant engagement with employers in his constituency.
“We welcome the opportunity to highlight the failure of the UK to support its Plastics Recycling Industry, preferring to dump its waste overseas.
“The UK is a dire economic position and is unable to compete internationally, the only areas of export growth are jobs and waste. Specifically, the UK’s Plastics Recycling Industry is in a state of trauma with more than 25% of its capacity closing in the last year with the loss of hundreds of jobs. Without urgent intervention this puts many of the 250,000 jobs in the wider UK Plastics Industry at risk.
“Our MP’s visit was an opportunity to highlight the factors impacting our industry at a parliamentary level – from high energy costs to the influx of cheaper imports from countries with much lower standards of environmental protection.
“Plastics perform a vital role in society and a successful UK Plastics Recycling Industry is crucial to ensure that the country is handling it’s plastic waste responsibly, rather than allowing it to be dumped or burnt overseas.”
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Commenting, Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk, said:
“Chase Plastics has decades of experience making high-quality products while creating jobs and wealth. Companies like this deserve a government which helps them to succeed instead of hindering their work.
“It is time to reduce the unreasonable burden of environmental and other regulation which is so costly for business to administer, and which often seems punitive and unevenly-enforced. Let’s give businesses a break from the red tape.”
Editors Notes:
• Chase Plastics, one of the UK’s longest established plastic recyclers, is committed to recycling plastics in the United Kingdom.
• The company’s RECOTHENE™ range of post-consumer rPE pellets is engineered to provide excellent performance levels in second life applications.
• Since 2020 Chase Plastics has invested £3m in expanding and upgrading it’s operations to ensure that it’s customers and the wider UK Plastics Industry is able to compete, protecting British jobs.
• Chase Plastics buys all types of clean polythene packaging waste and production waste specialising in advice on how to prepare plastics for recycling in order to maximise value and to ensure plastic is fully recycled in the United Kingdom.
You can read the coverage of Mr Timothy’s visit to Chase Plastics in the East Anglia Daily Times by clicking here.
