The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 41: Feb/March 2019 | Page 4

BUSINESS NEWS
NEW PLASTIC RECYCLING
PLANT FOR SWINDON Science Park to bring 600
additional jobs to Swindon
Recycling Technologies, a company specialising in the recycling of
residual plastic waste, is working with Swindon Borough Council
and power and Public Power Solutions Ltd to assess the feasibility of
delivering a world-class recycling facility for virtually all plastics. A planning application has been submitted
to Swindon Borough Council to build a
Swindon Science Park.
The proposals by Wasdell Properties
will create at least 600 additional
jobs in Swindon as well as delivering
much-needed facilities for research
and development (R&D) and high-tech
manufacturing in the town.
Wasdell is Europe’s largest independent
manufacturing and packaging supplier
to the pharmaceutical, medical and
healthcare industries. The proposed site
for the Science Park is at Inlands Farm,
Wanborough, 300 metres south of the New
Eastern Villages strategic allocation and
just north of junction 15 of the M4.
Science Parks are designed to provide
a space for entrepreneurs, start-ups and
academics to innovate, collaborate and
facilitate growth. Companies occupying
Science Parks tend to be concerned with
R&D within sectors such as development
of medicines, biotechnology, artificial
intelligence (AI) and robotics.
Swindon Science Park will follow
the typical UK model of high-quality,
low density green space, separated by
footpaths, cycle ways and water features.
The buildings will be constructed using
the latest technology and materials, with
roof mounted solar panels to generate
renewable energy and green sedum roofs
to promote bio-diversity, air quality and rain
water attenuation.
Wasdell employs more than 800 people
Swindon Borough Council (SBC) has been
assessing plastic recycling as part of the
Council’s 10 Year Waste Strategy. It is now
reviewing its current plastics recycling
infrastructure, inspired by the recent
publication of Project Lodestar. Lodestar
shows the potential for waste site operators
to recycle ‘all plastics’ by combining state-of-
the-art mechanical and feedstock recycling –
the latter supplied by Recycling Technologies
– in an advanced Plastics Recycling Facility
(aPRF).
Recycling Technologies has developed and
patented a plastics recycling machine, the
RT7000 that converts plastic waste back into
oil, called Plaxx®, from which new plastics
can be made. The machine heats up the
plastic in the absence of oxygen to break
the waste plastic down into Plaxx®. This
process allows the RT7000 to recycle plastics
commonly considered unrecyclable such as
plastic film, and laminated plastics such as
food pouches and even crisp packets.
Both Swindon Borough Council and
Public Power Solutions Ltd have expressed
significant interest in Swindon becoming the
first site for Recycling Technologies’ RT7000
feedstock recycling machine in England and
the second-only in the UK as a whole.
Adrian Griffiths, CEO and Founder of
Recycling Technologies, said, “We are
delighted that Swindon, the home of our
manufacturing facility and HQ, is hoping to
also be the home of England’s first aPRF
which includes our RT7000 feedstock
recycling machine. There is an urgent need
for more plastic recycling capacity in the
UK to not only stem the flow of plastics into
landfill and our environment, but to also
create jobs and boost economic prosperity
across the region.”
Bernie Brannan, Managing Director,
Public Power Solutions Ltd, added, “Working
for our shareholder Swindon Borough
Council and, having seen the results of
the Project Lodestar, we are committed to
having a Lodestar-inspired facility in Swindon
by 2020 in order to make Swindon the leading
council in England for plastic recycling.”
in the UK, including scientists, doctors,
packaging designers, administrators,
quality controllers and packers. Around 650
of those employees are based in Swindon.
New contracts secured by Wasdell means
the number of production lines available
needs to increase substantially.
The new facility will further benefit the
Swindon and Wiltshire economy, creating
at least 600 additional local jobs at all
skills levels at Wasdell within a year of
opening, with further increases in jobs as
the Science Park develops. More than 230
suppliers based within 10 miles of Swindon
also provide goods and services to Wasdell
Group.
It is proposed that the first element of
the Wasdell facility will become operational
in 2021, with the remainder of Swindon
Science Park becoming operational over
the subsequent four years.
Wasdell has invested heavily in
manufacturing excellence and innovation
since Martin Tedham brought the company
to Swindon in 2010, which has led to an
increase in turnover from £2m to £42m
during that period.
Wasdell was included in the 2018
Sunday Times’ Profit Track 100 – the
definitive list of Britain’s best private
companies with the fastest-growing
profits – and with 55.5 per cent annual
profit growth was the only Swindon-based
company to make the list.
For more information on the proposals go
to: www.swindonsciencepark.co.uk
BREAKING
THE MOULD
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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019