London-based clean tech company Itero has secured €6m (£5m) in funding to design and build its first demonstration plant at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in the Netherlands.
Itero’s chemical recycling process turns plastic into “high-value chemical products”. These products can then be used in the production of plastic, which can then be continuously recycled.
“Maintaining public goodwill and responding to environmental concerns about plastic waste, requires a process to recycle plastic safely, sustainably, and economically. Itero is working to provide a solution to that problem,” said Simon Hansford, CEO, Itero.
Founded in 2010, Itero’s said that its new Netherlands plant will have the capacity to process 27,000 tonnes of plastic each year.
Infinity Recycling’s Circular Plastics Fund provided €5m (£4.2m) of the funding. Part of the capital will be used in research and development at the firm’s pilot plant near Heathrow.
Hansford added: “This investment is the continuation of a longstanding relationship between Itero and Infinity Recycling, a Rotterdam-based investment manager focused on helping promising advanced recycling companies with the upscaling and commercialisation of their technologies and growing the market for recycled polymers.”
Another method of tackling plastic waste in packaging is the Magical Mushroom Company, biodegradable packaging based on the root structure of a mushroom. It plans to open its first production plant in Nottinghamshire.