HIS Royal Highness the Duke of Kent has visited a pioneering firm which recycles millions of plastic milk bottles every year.

The Biffa Polymers plant, at the Wilton International site, won the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2009, after becoming the world’s first to develop a process, known as rHDPE, for creating high-density polyethylene chip. rHDPE is now found in about two thirds of UK plastic food trays and milk bottles.

The business has maintained its reputation for innovation thanks to a £6.5m investment in a new plant capable of converting a wide range of mixed plastics – including pots, tubs and trays – into recycled quality flake for non-food packaged products. The move has more than doubled overall recycling capacity at the site to about 40,000 tonnes a year and the workforce has almost doubled, with Biffa Polymers now employing 135 staff.

Managing director Owen Franklin said: “We have great pride in our workforce and what we do.

“Bottles are easy to recover, but types of plastic were being shipped to China, or put to landfill. The new plant can take all the plastics that go into the recycling bin at home, that aren’t bottles, and turn them into a reusable product.”

The Duke unveiled a plaque to mark the efforts of the firm and its workers.