Plastics Firm Re Pet Confident of Meeting Targets

The company’s name is derived from the PET material that it makes, which is most commonly used to make drinks bottles and is much easier to recycle than PVC plastic, which is still used by many retailers.

2/10/2011 --- A newly launched plastics manufacturer has secured £1.2m of investment as it looks to become one of the biggest businesses of its kind in the country and establish a £15m turnover.

Re Pet was set up last year to supply the packaging industry with recyclable plastic sheeting, which is used to make things like food cartons for the UK’s supermarkets.

After months of planning, the firm is now ready to begin selling its products to the market and is already confident that it can hit a first-year turnover of between £5m and £6m as supermarkets and food companies continue to pursue their green targets.

The firm has been able to kick-start its growth plans after securing investment from the North East Accelerator Fund, which is managed by Newcastle-based Northstar Ventures, and the Waste & Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) Accelerating Growth Fund, in addition to private finance from shareholders.

As much as £800,000 of the £1.2m investment pot has already been used to buy a machine that sandwiches recycled plastic between thin layers of plastic polymer material, which is then pushed through a die under high pressure to create the plastic sheeting.

The firm expects to be making 100 tonnes of material per week with the help of the new machine, which will allow it to employ around 14 staff over the next two months.

From there, it expects to grow rapidly and hopes to attract enough additional investment to secure a second, more advanced, machine in the autumn, which it said would triple its output and allow it to take its workforce to around 25 staff.

The company’s name is derived from the PET material that it makes, which is most commonly used to make drinks bottles and is much easier to recycle than PVC plastic, which is still used by many retailers.

Managing director John Forrest said: “Currently the UK imports two-thirds of the PET material used in food packaging. We want to change that and become one of the largest PET manufacturers in the country.

“The product we make is also cheaper than PVC, so it is a win-win situation for food companies and supermarkets looking to increase their green credentials as well as keep costs down.

“By the end of the year we plan to be manufacturing from two large machines, which will allow us to triple our output and help us to achieve a turnover of between £5m and £6m and then grow this to £15m after that.”

Forrest, who also has experience in the finance and property sectors, said that the firm would now be looking to expand within its 47,000sq ft factory in Houghton-le-Spring and that it would also be looking to enter the export market in the coming years.

Alex Buchan, investment manager at Northstar Ventures, said: “We are delighted to be working with such a dynamic new company. Re Pet will redress the undersupply of recycled material in the UK market and we believe the business has great potential.

“As well as increasing consumer awareness with regards to recycled material, Re Pet will also create between 12 and 25 jobs in the North East.”