Van Werven laid the first brick of a completely new plastic recycling plant in Poland. The new facility will have a capacity of 30,000 tons and it is expected to be commissioned in April 2019.
The initiative is a collaboration between Van Werven Plastic Recycling and Plastic-Worx from Poland. Van Werven has been using the services of Plastic-Worx since the start of its plastic recycling activities in 2006 in the Netherlands, Belgium and England. "A reliable partner is an important condition for taking the right steps in Poland", says Ton van der Giessen, Managing Director at Van Werven. In the beginning, the input of the new plant will focus on the German market. As soon as the circular economy starts in Poland, volumes from Poland will be used more and more in the recycling process. The recycled raw materials will then be sold in Europe to, among others, the producers of automotive, furniture and construction products. With this new plant, 75,000 tons of CO2-emissions that will otherwise be released during the production of primary raw materials will be prevented.
Airforce base
The entire complex has a size of three hectares and it is located directly at the exit of the A4, an important motorway to and from Germany, in the south of Poland. The location has been part of a Russian airbase for decades. Ton van der Giessen: "Part of the runway is now our outdoor area. We can (re)use the existing concrete pavement." A beautiful example of using existing resources.
Innovative
Van Werven invested in techniques that did not yet exist: To sort residual plastics from construction waste and local authority waste and recycle it into high-quality raw material. That is the result of our urge to search for unique solutions. The plastic recycling activities have been awarded several times with an innovation award in the Netherlands and Europe. After years of successful plastic recycling in the Netherlands, Van Werven expands its activities. We now have branches in various locations in Europe where we collect and recycle plastic waste.
