Founded on research originating at University of Warwick and commercialised by Warwick Ventures, Recycling Technologies, a company specialising in the chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste has raised £3.7m in new investment to support its operation and acquire a new facility.

Recycling Technologies began fund raising on the crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube and attacted considerable support from over 1,500 investors. The crowdfunding campaign was oversubscribed by more than 300%, crossing the initial target of £1.2m in just under two weeks. A £1m investment from InterChem, a global pertroleum and petrochemics trader, meant that the round closed 9 days before the scheduled closed date.

Global production of plastic has exceeded 300 metric tons per annum and this is expected to double in the next 20 years. In a world where 90% of plastic waste materials go to landfills, are incinerated or end up in the oceans each year, Recycling Tecnologies offers a real solution to the problem.

Building up on the original University research, the technology provides a scalable solution to boost the global recycling rate and hasn't looked back since its successful production trail in its Swindon facilities in 2016. The innovative RT7000 machine recycles all types of plastics to Plaxx® (a heavy fuel and feedstock oil), including those considered unrecyclable such as films, coloured and laminated plastics including crisp packets and food pouches. The modular design means it can be situated on existing waste facilities, thus eliminating the need for transport of low density plastic waste.

Currently 2.8 metric tons of end-of-life plastic is disposed of to landfill in the UK alone. If just 5% of this were to be processed by a network of RT7000s the current industrial HFO (Heavy Fuel Oil) demand in the UK could be displaced. All four Plaxx® products come with the reduced carbon footprint when compared to their fossil-fuel based equivalent. Plaxx® variants are suited to a range of industrial applications, including feedstock for petro-chemical plants, coatings and environmental production as well as fuel for marine engines and candle making.

Adrian Griffiths, CEO, Recycling Technologies said

We are very grateful to all our investors for their tremendous support and thank them for their backing of the team at Recycling Technologies. This is an important step to change the story of plastic providing a commericial solution to chemically recycle waste plastic currently blighting the world's environment. We can now accelerate our operations and acquire a facility to assemble the RT7000 machines.

To find out more, please visit Recycling Technologies.

Robert Langstraat, CEO, InterChem said

We see great value in Recycling Technologies' solution for recycling plastic waste. The talented management team have developed a commercially attractive solution to recycle plastic waste which has the potnetial to scale rapidly. We look forward to supporting Recycling Technologies to build a business that will provide industrial quantities of recycled plastic feedstock, critical for the future of plastics manufacturing.

To find out more, please visit InterChem.

About Recycling Technologies:

Recycling Technologies was established in 2011 to develop an idea originating at the University of Warwick to eliminate the need for mechanical separation of waste plastics before recycling by converting the entire stream into a chemical feedstock using pyrolysis. It started as an internal proof-of-concept project led by Professor Jonathan Seville, former Dean of the School of Engineering at Warwick, and trialled on a Science City funded pyrolysis test rig. After the Warwick concept was proved, the research was transferred to Recycling Technologies, and the development continued supported by leading engineering partners and backed by grant and angel funding from the team and private investors, including from the Minerva Business Angel Network run by the University of Warwick Science Park.

About Warwick Ventures:

Warwick Ventures is the knowledge exchange and commercialisation arm of the University of Warwick. Its role is to enable the innovations arising from the world-leading research at Warwick to get into public use, thereby benefiting the UK economy and society. It provides business expertise, IP protection, support services and funding to the University's academic innovators from any discipline. It designs and delivers enterprise training programmes for researchers at all stages of their career development. Warwick Ventures also manages the University's spin-out equity portfolio of over 20 active businesses and social enterprises.