4.9/5

Plastic recycling

Shred Station provides commercial plastic recycling services UK-wide. We have a dedicated team of plastic experts who can ensure the most sustainable possible outcome for your plastic waste.

Call: 01603 513 271

Baled soft and hard plastics, ready for recycling.

Eco-friendly commercial plastic recycling services

We understand the importance of sustainability when recycling plastic waste. Our team of plastic waste recycling experts lives and breathes polymers. We understand the compositions of different types of plastic and will always work to find the best, most sustainable option to extend the life of your waste plastics. Our industrial plastic recycling facility is also powered by solar, helping to keep our processes as green as possible.

Whatever plastic you have, we’ll find a solution

Our in-house team of plastic specialists will find the most sustainable solution. To help us, please ensure your plastic is separated into categories.

Zero to landfill guaranteed for all services

Absolutely nothing we destroy, recycle, or collect for disposal will be sent to landfill. This is in line with our strict Zero to Landfill policy.

A lifetime CarbonNeutral® certified company

The CO2e we produce is offset in line with the requirements of The CarbonNeutral Protocol, reducing your scope 3 supply chain emissions.

Our plastic recycling services are UK-wide

Shred Station operates across the UK, so wherever your business is located, we can recycle your plastic waste as well as other waste types.

Plastic resin identification codes

In 1988, the Society of the Plastics Industry created the Resin Identification Code, which divides plastic resins into 7 categories, as pictured below. You may have seen these symbols on plastic products you’ve handled. Some of these plastic categories are easily recyclable, and some, sadly, are not. With our plastic recycling service, we will recycle as much plastic as possible. For non-recyclable plastic waste, we recommend using Energy from Waste, which we can facilitate for you. Energy from Waste avoids landfill and generates energy for the National Grid.

Plastic Resin Identification Codes

To allow us to recycle your plastics effectively, we kindly request that they are separated by code in time for your commercial plastic collections.

Recyclable plastic waste

We can recycle segregated plastic in many forms. Some of the most common plastic recycling services we provide include:

PET recycling

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a common plastic in the polyester family and is highly recyclable. PET is used in items like drink bottles, clothing, bedding, and much more. As PET is so widely used and doesn’t break down, recycling is essential to prevent microplastics from entering ecosystems

LDPE recycling

Low-density polyethylene recycling - or LDPE recycling - is highly achievable. LDPE is a versatile, soft plastic with a wide range of applications, from plastic bags to squeezable bottles. It’s flexible, durable, and easy to recycle. Get in touch to see how we can help with your soft plastic recycling.

HDPE recycling

High-density polyethylene, or HDPE for short, is a hard plastic. It is versatile, hard-wearing, and has a wide range of uses, making it perfect for recycling. Some common uses for HDPE include water pipes, milk jugs, shampoo bottles, outdoor furniture, playground equipment, and recycling bins.

PP recycling

Polypropylene, or PP, is a fairly rigid, food-safe plastic that can withstand a lot of heat, making it a commonly used plastic for microwave meal boxes, kettles, food containers that are heat-sealed with tin foil (e.g. spreadable cheese), and in labs. If you need a polypropylene plastic recycling service, we can help.

PVC recycling

PVC recycling is achievable, but it is much more difficult to recycle than other types of plastic. This is because it is typically manufactured with additives like plasticisers and other fillers, reducing its suitability for reuse. Only around 18.6% of PVC is recycled in the UK, but we will always try to find a solution for your PVC waste.

Other plastics

Countless plastics don’t fit into categories 1-6. These are usually the most difficult to recycle because the makeup of category 7 plastics is so diverse. However, some common types of ‘other’ plastics, such as polycarbonate and acrylic (PMMA), are highly recyclable. Let us know what your category 7 plastics are, and we’ll find a solution.

We can also recycle polystyrene - a category 6 plastic - and expanded polystyrene (EPS), provided it is not contaminated with food and drink waste.

Bales of plastic being loaded into an articulated lorry for recycling.

Hard and soft plastic recycling

Whether your plastic waste is comprised of hard plastics, soft plastics, or both, we can recycle it. To ensure we can recycle as much of your plastic waste as possible, we politely request that it is ready for us to collect, pre-segregated into category types. As well as ensuring as much as possible is recycled, this helps us to keep plastic recycling services affordable for all businesses, large or small.

Some of the common soft plastics we recycle include bubble wrap, stretch wrap, shrink wrap, packaging film, and plastic bags.

Hard plastic products that frequently come through our doors include plastic pallets, plastic crates, plastic drums and containers, pots, tubs, trays, bottles, plastic pipes and pipe offcuts, manufacturing offcuts and production waste.

Get a quote for business plastic recycling

Why choose Shred Station?

Fully compliant plastic disposal services

We are an Environment Agency-registered waste carrier, and we handle all of your plastic waste in compliance with all relevant legislation, including England’s Simpler Recycling regulations, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations, and the Waste Separation Requirements (Wales).

We will provide a Waste Transfer Note after every collection to demonstrate your Duty of Care, and can even provide environmental reports to our regular customers.

Flexible collection options

All businesses are different, so we tailor our services to suit your requirements. Our plastic recycling services are available for small loads, bulk loads, on a one-off basis or as a regular ongoing service.

We assist many businesses with their plastic recycling requirements. From medical-grade injection moulding specialists to children’s toy manufacturers, national retailers, and 3D printing service providers, we’ve shredded and recycled every kind of plastic you can imagine.

Bins and containers provided

For regular plastic collections, we can provide wheelie bins, bags, storage containers, and even RORO skips for your organisation’s waste plastics. On arrival back at our plastic sorting facility, we’ll use our industrial balers and compactors to compress your plastic ready for recycling. You don’t have to pre-bale it, but if you do, we can collect plastic bales too.

Plastic bottle caps entering an industrial plastic granulation machine.

The plastic recycling process

How we recycle your plastic and what it is recycled into depends entirely on the polymers it is made from, and also factors like its colour. For example, black reprocessed plastics can be shredded, melted down, and pelletised into new plastic granules - a typical recycling process. Black plastics are commonly used to create darker things like bin liners, whereas clear plastic may be suitable for reuse in drinking bottles.

Whatever plastic you have, our in-house experts will identify the best recycling solutions available. By recycling plastic waste, we can extend its lifetime, reduce waste, reduce our reliance on virgin plastic, and support a more circular economy.

Secure plastic recycling

Unlike most plastic recycling companies, we offer a secure plastic recycling service. This is where we securely shred your plastic into small fragments before recycling. Secure plastic recycling is ideal for things like injection-moulded prototypes or other branded plastics that need to be destroyed before any recycling takes place. With this service, plastics are shredded and baled at our specialist destruction facilities in line with EN 15713 security shredding standards.

Whether you’re happy for your plastics to go straight for recycling or if you require secure disposal for your plastics, we can help.

Explore our secure destruction services

"Shred Station provided a service to destroy potentially sensitive products and provide us with evidence of that. This is something we can share with our customers from a traceability and sustainability perspective."

Joel Weightman,
Optimold.

Get in touch

Enquire about our commercial plastic recycling services today.

Call us on 01603 513 271

4.9/5

Frequently asked questions

If your query hasn’t been answered on this page, please feel free to head over to our FAQs page for more information or get in touch with our team of experts.

Yes. We can collect bulk volumes of plastic on a one-off or regular basis.

Many types of businesses require plastic recycling. We provide services to the manufacturing sector, warehousing companies, storage and distribution companies, logistics providers, retailers, pharmaceutical companies, food production organisations, the automotive sector, furniture makers, PPE suppliers, and many other types of organisations. We also help a lot of fashion brands with plastic recycling for plastic-based textiles such as polyester. Whether you produce a few bins of plastic per month or a skip-load per day, we can help.

Plastic is granulated as part of the recycling process. Granulation is similar to shredding in many ways. With industrial machinery, plastics are ground into very small fragments. These fragments can then be melted down into new plastic pellets, ready for recycling. We have a dedicated plastic recycling facility and an industrial granulator, so don’t hesitate to get in touch for all of your plastic recycling needs.

Several types of plastic cannot be recycled, and many others aren’t easily recyclable. Some plastics that can’t be recycled include:

Bioplastics
While the name alludes to a greener plastic, bioplastics are, quite controversially, not recyclable. They cannot be re-pelletised or mixed with other forms of plastic for recycling. They are commonly advertised as compostable but, unfortunately, are not generally suitable for home composting. This is because to effectively biodegrade, bioplastics require temperatures of around 50℃ and the presence of specific microbes. This can be done at industrial composting facilities, but home compost bins never reach a high enough temperature for this to work. As a result, many companies get stuck with bioplastics, thinking they have done their bit for the planet, only to realise they now have a lot of material that will likely cost a fair amount to dispose of.

Composites
Composite plastics are made using multiple materials. This could be two or more different types of plastic. It could also be a plastic mixed with a non-plastic, such as composite decking, which is made with plastic and wood. Composites are very rarely recyclable. This is because different types of plastic require different processes to melt down, and when you add non-plastics into the mix, that becomes even harder.

Contaminated plastics
Plastics that are contaminated, e.g. used blood bags, medical gloves, and IV tubes, cannot be recycled. This is because they contain potentially hazardous substances. Hazardous waste like this must be incinerated at very high temperatures to avoid risks to health.

We can still collect these plastics, but they would likely be incinerated at Energy from Waste facilities rather than being recycled. If you aren’t sure whether or not your plastic can be recycled, contact our team of experts. We are always happy to help.