Recipo opens its own recycling plant and manufactures recycled plastic to be used in new electronic products.
Recipo is excited to launch Recipo Material, a purpose-built recycling plant for plastic from electronic waste in Riga, Latvia. In association with their members, Recipo continues to set an example by providing a viable European recycling solution for plastic. As the leading Producer Responsibility Partner for electronics in the Nordic region, Recipo is the first collection scheme in the world to pioneer their own recycling plant.
Currently, Europe has the capacity to recycle only 25% of its electronic plastic. Recipo’s recycling plant will substantially increase this percentage. Recycling European waste on European soil will ensure that producers can have better control of their product’s entire life cycle and environmental impact. Consumers and Governments are demanding an ever higher standard of post-consumer accountability, and Recipo will now be able to work directly with producers to not only collect plastic waste derived from their products but also to produce recycled plastic for reuse, closing the loop on the plastic lifecycle.
“Traceability is a vital part of a circular ecology. A circular ecology incorporates everything we value in a circular economy. However, it takes the wellbeing of the planet into serious consideration as well. With Recipo Material, we hope to see large scale companies turn to us for a steady stream of recycled plastic, as opposed to relying on the unsustainable use of virgin plastic which simply increases the volume of plastic waste polluting the planet.”, says Josef Tapper, CEO, Recipo.
Recipo’s mission is to move forwards in realising their vision of a sustainable world where the materials from electronic products are not burned or sent to landfill but are circulated back into the supply chain to be turned into new products. The factory will handle over 20,000 tonnes/year of plastic from the Northern European market, transforming waste into high grade plastic pellets. Although, as Josef Tapper indicates, “It’s only skimming the surface of our recycling problems. This is a good first step, however we have a very long way to go before we will see a lasting positive impact on our region, and indeed the world.”
About Recipo
Recipo was founded in 2007 and are owned by several consumer electronic companies. Recipo are working towards the end goal of reaching an annual recycling rate of a 100%, which means the same amount of electronics that are put on the market each year also is recycled. Recipo’s work includes development of improved solutions for recycling of e-waste and the management of legally required producer liability in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
