Swindon’s ambitions to be a major national centre for sustainable industries have received a double boost with the arrival of two firms operating at the leading edge of the green revolution.
Recycling Technologies, a manufacturer of energy-from-waste equipment capable of generating electricity from mixed plastic waste, has set up in the town and actively pursuing a growth strategy.
The company was spun out of the University of Warwick in 2011 and has received funding from the university’s research commercialisation company Warwick Ventures.
And biomass and animal bedding company Pure Green has announced it is applying for planning permission to set up a biomass plant on the town’s Cheney Manor Industrial Estate.
The company specialises in recycling wood and other natural materials into two products – biomass for use in commercial energy production, and animal bedding.
Pure Green is an offshoot of Belgian animal supplies group Hippofan, which turns over more than 75m euros (£64m) and employs 300 people in 15 companies.
Both businesses have been helped by Forward Swindon, the town’s economic regeneration company.
Forward Swindon has been helping Pure Green find a suitable location for its facility. It is now helping it prepare a planning application for former Easy Living Furniture site. If it receives planning consent, the plant will represent a major investment for the Swindon area.
It will source recycled wood from Swindon Commercial Services, based next door, and raw materials from the Wiltshire and across the South West.
In the longer term it is hoped the plant, which will not produce any harmful emissions, will become a “closed loop”, with the boiler using energy generated by the process, which is required to heat and dry the raw materials.
Forward Swindon director of investment Phil Young said: “Pure Green could be a major win for Swindon.
“They will use state-of-the-art technologies to produce sustainable energy and products, using resources
from within the Swindon area. If they gain planning consent, they will be contributing to one of our key target sectors – the low carbon economy.”
He said the arrival of Pure Green, formed by Hippofan chief Stijn Herman, illustrated how Forward Swindon can support inward investing businesses by helping reduce delays, risk and bureaucracy and making relocation easier.
Recycling Technologies is using a process called Pyrolysis under which it takes mixed plastics destined for
landfill and transforms them into gas. This is filtered to remove impurities and condensed to a wax-like fuel which can then be used in generators in place of – for example – diesel.
