Enva offers long-term recycled plastics supply and price certainty for European white goods manufacturers

Enva is offering European white goods manufacturers greater certainty over the quality, supply and price of recycled plastics as it works to remove some of the key barriers to their increased use in new appliances.

Continued investment in Enva's e-waste recycling infrastructure, together with the growing volume of recovered plastics now processed in-house by its Plastics business, means the company can now supply more than 600 tonnes of high-quality white recycled polystyrene (PS) compound every month.

With feedstock secured through its own e-waste operations and existing contracts, Enva can offer supply agreements that guarantee continuity of supply and pricing for up to two years, while providing manufacturers with consistent material quality and a competitive alternative to prime polymer.

Developing and validating a recycled polymer for a particular application requires investment in testing, trials and product development. While the sustainability benefits of increasing recycled content are well understood, uncertainty around material quality, long-term availability and price has made manufacturers reluctant to commit to that development process.

Bradley Wright, General Manager, Plastics GB at Enva, said: “Manufacturers understand the case for increasing recycled content. The challenge is having the confidence to commit to it.

“They need to know the quality will be consistent, the volumes will be there when they need them and that they have visibility over price. The investment we have made and the feedstock we have secured mean we can now provide that certainty for up to two years.

“Manufacturers can therefore develop recycled compounds with us, knowing we have the scale and security of supply to support full production.”

Enva's ability to process more than two million end-of-life fridges a year provides its Plastics business with a secure and predictable source of recovered polymer feedstock. This can be processed into high-quality white recycled compounds and supplied back into white goods manufacturing.

Enva works directly with manufacturers to develop and adapt recycled compounds for specific applications, supported by its in-house technical and laboratory capabilities. Materials can be developed to meet specific manufacturing, performance and aesthetic requirements.

Wright added: “White goods present a particularly strong opportunity because we can take plastics recovered from end-of-life appliances and return them to the manufacture of new products.

“We now have the scale and technical capability to work with manufacturers to develop more circular products that can be produced commercially and consistently.”

Processing more recovered plastics in-house forms part of Enva's wider investment in e-waste recycling infrastructure and its strategy to maximise the value of materials recovered from end-of-life electrical equipment.

By connecting its recycling and plastics operations, Enva aims to create more resilient circular material supply chains, reduce manufacturers' reliance on prime polymers and enable greater quantities of recovered plastics to be returned to high-value manufacturing applications.

ENDS