Recycled plastic is commercially and environmentally compelling. It is also harder to process consistently than virgin material. MFI varies between batches as the source material changes. Contamination levels affect surface finish and structural properties. Regrind ratios need managing across a production run or reject rates climb quietly until you have a problem.
Most moulders know this, which is why many avoid recycled feedstocks entirely, or accept them but pass the quality risk back to the client through elevated reject allowances and qualification caveats that make the material commercially unattractive.
We have been doing this long enough to have worked out what actually needs doing. Incoming material qualification, process parameter management, in-line monitoring — the things that make the difference between recycled material that works and recycled material that causes problems.
Materials We Process
- Recycled PP (polypropylene) — post-consumer and post-industrial, various MFI grades
- Recycled HDPE and LDPE — various grades and origins
- Virgin PP and PE alongside recycled variants — same machine, qualified separately
- Recycled ABS — where the application tolerates the variability in colour and surface finish
- Blended materials incorporating recycled content — contact us with your specific requirement
Qualification Process
Before we run your recycled material at production volume, we qualify it properly. That means running initial samples, assessing the output against your specification, and identifying any process adjustments needed before production begins. If a material lot is outside the parameters we need to hit your spec, we'll tell you — not after a production run, but before it starts.
Why This Matters Now
Sustainability requirements from major retailers, construction specifiers and public sector procurement frameworks increasingly require demonstrable recycled content in plastic components. Extended Producer Responsibility regulations and the Plastic Packaging Tax have made recycled material commercially necessary for a growing number of manufacturers, not just desirable.
Finding a UK moulder who can handle recycled feedstocks at production volume, with consistent output quality and honest reporting, is genuinely difficult. If your product specification requires recycled content and you've struggled to find a supplier who can deliver it properly, talk to us.