Clean Planet Energy and Crossroads Real Estate have joined forces to invest up to £400m (€457.47m) to construct hard-to-recycle waste plastics recycling facilities across the UK.
Cleantech, renewables and alternative energy company Clean Planet said the joint venture will fund the construction of ecoPlant in Teesside, the firm’s flagship plant in North East England.
The Teesside project will be the first of 10 new ecoPlants that pair plan to build and operate across the UK, Clean Planet said, adding that potential sites have already been identified in Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire and South Wales.
The ecoPlant facility is a green recycling facility intended to process non-recyclable and hard-to-recycle waste plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
The facility will convert waste into ultra-low sulphur fuels to replace fossil fuels in the transport and heavy-machinery sectors, and will also convert waste into petrochemical feedstocks, including naphtha, which can be used to make new plastic products without the need to use fossil-based feedstocks.
The new joint venture could see over £400m of new UK investment deployed for the future construction of these facilities to tackle the plastic waste crisis, Clean Planet said.
Bertie Stephens, Clean Planet Energy’s CEO, said: “Clean Planet Energy’s mission is to remove over 1m tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste from our environment, every year. This exciting partnership gives us the capacity to make a significant dent in this target.
“Having Crossroads Real Estate join us, not just for the development of potentially 10 new UK ecoPlant projects, but also for the construction of the current Teesside ecoPlant, means in Crossroads we have a partner who, like us, is focussed on making a sustainable difference with its investments; delivering on a vision of a greener United Kingdom and beyond.
”We’re now reaching out to local councils and private partners across the UK who could benefit from a reduction in plastic waste entering their landfill.”
David Gillerman, founding partner and CEO of Crossroads Real Estate, said: “At Crossroads, we are committed to green opportunities and impact investing as demonstrated already through our sustainable hotels strategy. We look forward to partnering with Clean Planet Energy to roll out ecoPlants across the UK, including the flagship ecoPlant already under construction in Teesside.
“The negative impact of plastic waste on our environment, plus the challenges we face from excess carbon emissions, made the joint venture with Clean Planet Energy a very compelling opportunity. With this investment, we have the ability to make a significant environmental and social impact across the UK.”
Crossroads is a real estate private equity and special situations fund manager
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