Coolrec, a subsidiary of Van Gansewinkel, is today opening its new Coolrec Plastics Compounding plant in Emmen. The WEEE recycler and supplier of high-value secondary raw materials will produce specified plastic pellets at the new plant and these are then supplied directly to manufacturers of consumer goods. The pellets are produced from the process of recycling scrapped electronic appliances that are offered to Coolrec from sources including the Wecycle collection system. The WEEELABEX certified recycler is expected to supply 10,000 tonnes of pellets every year, closing the circular chain of plastics on its own. Coolrec Plastics Compounding is being officially opened in the presence of Jan Vlak, managing director of Wecycle, Bouke Arends, deputy mayor of the Municipality of Emmen and Arjen Wittekoek, director of Coolrec.

The plant in Emmen is of major importance to Coolrec for pushing ahead with completing the circle of plastics recycling. “Coolrec Plastics Compounding is the perfect next step for our operations at Coolrec PHB in Waalwijk”, according to Arjen Wittekoek. "In Waalwijk, all the plastic flows derived from scraped electrical and electronic products are recycled into high-value raw materials. The hard plastic flows of PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), PS (polystyrene) and ABS (Acrylonitril-Butadine-Styrene) are cleaned up and reprocessed into pure raw materials here. The raw materials then go to Emmen, where we have the technology to refine the specification of these materials even further, convert them into pellets and finally offer them to manufacturers of consumer goods. These high-value, secondary raw materials have exactly the same properties as primary raw materials but they're considerably more sustainable."

Jan Vlak, managing director of Wecycle, is enthusiastic about the quality of the recycling: "Wecycle stands for quality and reliability. The consumer and our partners in the collection process – local authorities and shopping outlets – can count on the fact that we will recycle collected appliances in the best way possible, for instance at Coolrec. This high-value plastic recycling is a concrete example of how we are collectively contributing to the circular economy."

Source: coolrec.com