Environment Magazine

THE Sustainable Technology Fund (STF) managed by ESynergy has announced a £6m follow-on investment into plastics recycling specialist AWS Ecoplastics.

The new investment will be used to expand the company's plastic bottle processing plant, creating the world's largest facility with food grade capability able to process up to 100,000 tonnes of mixed plastic bottles annually. AWS has also appointed Tony Knox, founder and former chairman of Financial Dynamics, as its new chairman to oversee the next phase of development. The £6 million investment will be delivered in two stages through this year.

£1m will come from the STF, which focuses on providing investment for UK companies developing clean and efficient industrial processes. The remaining £5 million is from the Robeco Clean Tech Private Equity II fund. AWS, established in 2000, operates the largest and most technically advanced plastic bottle reprocessing plant in the UK, currently producing PET and HDPE flake with a customer base in Europe and the Far East.

The expansion will enable it to become the first UK producer of highquality food-grade pellets, allowing domestic drinks companies to increase the proportion of recycled material in bottles. E-Synergy's £30m Sustainable Technology Fund specialises in venture investing in early stage companies where the use of advanced technology is a key part of the business plan. The STF is a £30 million Enterprise Capital Fund (ECF), focusing on funding for SME companies in the sustainable sector and backed by institutional and private investors. The Government's investment into the ECF programme is managed by Capital for Enterprise Ltd.

It has been partnered in the project by Robeco, which offers investment products and services to institutional and private investors worldwide. Their total assets under management amount to €146bn.