A PLASTIC waste recycling firm has been given the green light to build a £20m facility near Ellesmere Port which would create 50 permanent jobs.

Enviroo had put forward its plans in December last year to construct a plant at the 54-hectare Protos site – Peel L&P Environmental’s strategic energy and resource hub – in Grinsome Road, Ince.

The planning application, which was lodged with Cheshire West and Chester Council following a consultation with residents and businesses, has now been approved.

The facility – set to be Enviroo's first in the UK – would recycle some of the 4.9 million tonnes of plastic waste created in the UK.

The company specialises in recycling 100% of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – the main material used for food and drinks packaging such as plastic bottles – and converting it into the raw material for new food-grade packaging, without any waste.

The new plant will be operational by summer 2022.

Ahmed Detta, CEO and founder of Enviroo, said: "We are delighted to have our planning application approved. After a positive consultation with the community, we now look forward to being able to get down to business and deal with plastic waste here on our shores and importantly help to create a greener North West.

"Our first facility will hopefully be one of many as Enviroo look to provide a solution for packaging manufacturers who are preparing for the upcoming plastic tax legislation.

"Our facilities will provide the recycled PET manufacturers need in their products, while reducing the amount of virgin plastic."

Enviroo’s first facility is at the £165m Plastic Park at Protos, which will cluster together plastic recycling and recovery technologies to create value from plastic waste, helping to avoid it ending up in landfill, exported overseas or in our oceans.

Jayne Hennessy, development manager at Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, said: "Less than one third of all plastic waste in the UK is recycled.

"We are creating the UK’s first Plastic Park at Protos which will increase recycling rates, reducing landfill and the export of waste.

"This will be done by clustering together different technologies, including Enviroo’s PET recycling facility and the plastic to hydrogen facility also consented at Protos.

"We will be able to use technology and improved infrastructure to process many types of plastics collected by local authorities. Hopefully giving them the confidence to collect a wider range of plastic in the future."

The successful application was led and submitted by leading planning and environmental consultancy, AXIS.

Andrew Russell, director at AXIS, said: "We're delighted to have secured the planning consent for this groundbreaking development, which will help reduce the levels of plastic waste generated in the UK each year.

"The North West is really leading the way in enabling the UK to meet our climate change obligations as part of achieving NetZero by 2050."