Since the 2nd of January Van Werven is also working in Sweden. Located in Sexdrega, Svenljunga Municipality, Van Werven Sweden AB will sort mixed hard plastics. From mid-2019 Van Werven will reprocess plastics to high quality raw materials.
Fifteen members of staff operate the sorting plant. Van Werven will start processing about 20 million kilos of plastics a year. The company wants to increase this amount in the future. The new plant in Sweden is the fifth location where Van Werven recycles plastics. The company started in the Netherlands 12 years ago and is now active in Belgium, England and Ireland. In addition to the new plant in Sweden, Van Werven is also starting a new location in Poland. This plant will be ready in April.
Sustainable business models
Ton van der Giessen, managing director: "Starting a new establishment is only possible in countries where the Government stimulates sustainable business models. Our mission is to close the loop, in local context. For that reason we will organize the full recycling process in Sweden. We will not need to extract raw materials from places on the other side of the planet; we can organise the entire recycling process here in Sweden and only sell new raw materials within Europe. This kind of local approach naturally results in both economic returns and a smaller ecological footprint.” Van Werven recycles 150 million kilos plastic per year and thus saves more than 375 million kilos of CO2 emissions.