Plans for the UK’s first Plastic Park have been approved by councillors at Cheshire West and Chester Council who greenlit the £165m park to be developed at Protos, the strategic energy and resource hub near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, are behind the blueprint, which it says will feature innovative processing and treatment technologies to make the most of up to 367,500 tonnes of mixed recyclables and plastic every year.
Peel NRE says the £165m park will recycle 367,500 tonnes of plastic and help slash carbon emissions on the road to net zero.
The consent will also see a hydrogen refuelling station developed at the Plastic Park, with the overall scheme set to create 147 new jobs, Peel NRE says.
The application is the latest in a run of consents at Protos following previous approvals for other facilities at the Plastic Park, including the UK’s first waste Plastic to Hydrogen facility using Powerhouse Energy technology and a PET (polyethene terephthalate) recycling plant that will take food and beverage packaging, such as plastic bottles, and recycle them for use in making new packaging products.
Peel NRE says this is part of a major push by the region’s political and business leaders to make the North West the first net zero region by 2040.
Development Director at Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, Richard Barker, said: “It’s great to get unanimous backing for the Plastic Park – a UK first that will underpin the circular economy in the North West.
“It’s imperative we deliver creative solutions to the UK’s plastic problem. This project clusters recycling technologies in one place so that we can make the most of a whole range of plastic materials arriving on site, avoiding the need to ship them to different facilities around the region. It’ll mean we can cut down on vehicle movements, create 147 new jobs and deliver essential infrastructure to underpin a North West circular economy that’s much more sustainable.
“We’ve planned Protos as a holistic destination to support the UK on the road to net zero. With the recently announced Protos CO2 network, linking to the proposed regional carbon capture infrastructure, the Plastic Park is just another example of forward-thinking development that responds to dual-challenge of reducing our waste sent to landfill, whilst cutting carbon emissions.”