PRN accreditation drives MYGroup investment for tackling innovative hard-to-recycle plastics

Yorkshire-based MYGroup has become accredited to generate PRNs for recycling some of the most challenging plastic wastes on the market. 

The UK’s largest compliance scheme, Reconomy Group Company Valpak, was instrumental in helping gain approval for PRN funding for around 1,000 tonnes of PRNs. MYGroup, which offers total waste management recycling for a range of materials, is well-known for its innovative cosmetics take-back scheme with Boots and Body Shop. It will invest the funding to expand recycling systems and to manufacture products from hard-to-recycle plastics. 

MYGroup Site Manager Mike Derbyshire said: “As a family business, our ethos has always been to keep material here in the UK, and this decision reflects our commitment to tackling those difficult wastes that others struggle to deal with.

“The key to our success is traceability, a willingness to innovate, and our determination to see the end product from every item recycled. Nothing goes to waste.”

MYGroup processes a wide range of wastes, from food waste and mixed plastics to metals. Food waste is recovered for animal feed or treated through anaerobic digestion, while the harder to recycle plastics, such as multi-layer films and contaminated plastic packaging are manufactured into hoarding board, furniture or even school equipment and Christmas trees for shop display. The hoarding board is available to Reconomy’s construction customers for use on site. 

Derbyshire said: “Although we also deal with more commonly-recycled plastics, we are focusing on using the PRNs to increase capacity for the most challenging mixed plastic streams. Our equipment is specially-designed, but our skill lies in blending different plastics together and creating products out of material that would traditionally end up in landfill.

“The application process for PRN accreditation calls for a great deal of information. Valpak helped us to navigate all the evidence needed for the Environment Agency, which really kept things moving.”

Ben Richardson, Director of Procurement at Valpak, praised MYGroup’s level of traceability and innovation. He said: “MYGroup’s ethos aligns with our purpose of creating a sustainable waste free world. Working together to create a useable product from waste otherwise destined for energy recovery, whilst also generating UK PRNs that will help them to invest and expand, is what true collaboration is about. The model works well even without the value of the PRN, but accreditation will help take MYGroup’s unique approach even further, and I am excited to support their future growth.”

Ends

Editors notes

•. Valpak’s mission is to create a sustainable, waste-free world. We are driven, not by today. We are driven by tomorrow.

•. We help our clients to reduce waste and recycle more, continually innovating and using leading data science and expertise to inspire businesses, help push ourselves – and our industry – forward. We don’t just show our customers how to navigate waste regulations; we help them become more sustainable, through our ever-increasing capabilities and pioneering innovations.

•. Valpak is the largest environmental compliance scheme in the UK. We work with major names, such as J Sainsbury’s, ASOS, and Miele, and manages compliance for more than 2,000 businesses. In 2017, it celebrated its 20th anniversary.

•. Valpak is a Reconomy Group company. Reconomy is the UK’s largest provider of outsourced resource management and recycling services. It works with customers of all sizes across industry sectors, using a technology-enabled, value-added approach to help businesses reach its sustainability goals. Following the acquisitions of Noventiz and RLG in Germany in 2020, adding further specialism in compliance and international product returns, the Reconomy Group’s aim is to become the leading global provider of services to drive the circular economy.

•. Valpak services include:

• Compliance under Waste Packaging, WEEE, and Battery Directives.

•.Data insights.

• International compliance.

• Recycling services (total waste management options and solutions for niche materials).

• Consultancy.

• Accreditation under environmental schemes, such as Zero Waste to Landfill. 

•. Valpak invests in pioneering systems and expertise which enable its customers to analyse, assess and improve product design. The Product Data Hub, Insight Platform and dedicated teams work together to drive change.