Wastefront partners with recycling firm for £100m Sunderland plant

Wastefront AS has partnered with a Dubai-headquartered recycling company to guarantee the complete supply of end-of-life-tyres (ELT) for its £100m Port of Sunderland recycling plant.The Norwegian waste tyre recycling company has partnered with Gateway Resources, which will supply Wastefront with nearly ten million tyres every year.Backed by energy giant Vitol, Wastefront secured planning permission in January to build the plant, which is expected to be commercially operational by 2024 and will create about 100 jobs.Once at full capacity, the site will be able to manage 20 per cent of the UK’s total ELT through processing 80,000 tonnes annually.The tyres received from Gateway will be converted into useful commodities, including biofuels and recovered carbon black, which will then be reintroduced into the supply chain and utilised as alternative fuel or raw materials for the production of new tyres and other products.The two companies have also signed a memorandum of understanding to work together towards implementing an additional supply agreement for a potential Wastefront plant in continental Europe, which is under review.Wastefront chief executive, Vianney Valès, said: “Our agreement with Gateway Resources is a key part of our mission – tackling the scourge of ELTs at scale and pace, whilst creating a truly circular economy in tandem. It is unparalleled both in the UK and Europe. Such an agreement suddenly gives the UK a world leading position in the resolution of this serious waste issue, and we are proud to spearhead such significant progress.”We cannot continue with our dependency on new and scarce materials whilst continuing to burn existing materials with devastating and immediate environmental consequences. To solve the problem, Wastefront is proposing a solution that is both circular and at scale.”Gateway Resources director, Soham Khemka, added: “The core ethos of our company has always been economically sound and environmentally conscious trading. Our agreement with Wastefront reflects this commitment, with their scaled solution for one of the significant environmental problems of our time – the burning of raw materials – paving the way for the elimination of unnecessary exports from the UK altogether.”We have long been engaged with regulators to find a local, more sustainable solution, to replace our existing shipping routes for ELTs across the world.”Wastefront is the first player to tackle the ELT problem at scale across Europe, with the significance of their plans having a massive impact on the industry. Wastefront is going head on with the necessary evils of exporting waste, finally rendering it unnecessary and truly building a circular economy both at home and abroad.”