LEICESTER, ENGLAND — Injection molder Invicta Plastics Ltd. is making rigid, food-safe products from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, lids and milk cartons.
The Leicester-based firm said the products were the fruit of four years' of research and "millions of pounds" of investment.
Invicta's chief executive, the Countess of Onslow, said her company had trialed and tested hundreds of recycled materials sourced in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, leading to the creation of two new processes which it called rPETable and rNEWable.
"It is our mission to work with major brands to spread the word, help protect the world's natural resources, save our customers and the consumer money and reduce carbon footprints – in many cases by one simple switch: swapping virgin polymers for one of a wide choice of high quality recycled plastics including [PET] and [high density polyethylene]," said Lady Onslow.
She said her firm was looking for "like-minded partners" to develop the technology, while Invicta client Coca-Cola had been among the first brands to test the new products.
She said Coca-Cola Enterprises, Greenpac and retail giant Asda were working with her company to "explore the potential of these processes for point-of-sale products and merchandise.
"Our discoveries mean we will now always consider using high quality recycled plastics before virgin polymers for a very wide range of product manufacturing. In our sector recycled plastics has been very rarely considered as a first choice," she added.
