Plastic has long been demonized as a polluter – filling our oceans with microplastics, being found inside fish and marine life and ending up in the farthest corner of the earth such as the Antarctic. But we simply can’t erase plastic from our modern lives. It’s highly efficient in terms of manufacturing, transportation and its use in medicine has been life-saving. Think about the millions of plastic medical instruments used every day in hospitals around the world.
There’s an argument that we should embrace plastic and its ability to improve the way we live but if we do this it’s essential we take responsibility for the pollution it has caused and seek to halt plastic impacting our environment. We can continue to enjoy the benefits of plastic if we can learn to embrace a circular economy and habitually recycle.
Poly Ethylene Terephthalate, or PET, is one such form of plastic that is widely used, particularly in on-the-go food and drink packaging. From bottled water to ketchup, we can find PET in everyday household items that you can find on a supermarket shelf.
With Enviroo our ultimate goal is to protect the environment – Ahmed Detta
PET plastic is highly destructive to our planet. PET is a polymer and the major problem is the mechanical breakdown of the polymer. As a result, it frequently ends up in landfills where it could remain for hundreds of years. It is often shipped off to developing countries who dump it in rivers or incinerate it. The only way to deal with PET is to recycle it, safely and efficiently.
Taking Up the Big Responsibility
And that is where Enviroo comes into play. Enviroo is an organisation that is committed to responsibly taking care of plastics. It is a plastics recycling company. Ahmed Detta, the CEO of Enviroo, established Enviroo for this very purpose. His mission is to make plastics recycling habitual in our everyday behaviour and instil the belief that profiteering from this process is good for all involved. This key, yet disruptive belief, was the driving force behind Ahmed setting up Enviroo – creating a visionary recycling business which is both a force for good and profitable. Ahmed spearheaded the business model from concept to full equity investment funding for a facility in the Middle East and will be creating a more advanced model across the UK market. Ahmed leads a team of like-minded individuals who are equally committed to this cause.
Behind The Scenes
Ahmed started his career in England. He was involved in various IT infrastructure projects and other technology projects, as well as green data centres and sustainable technology. After that, he moved to the UAE which was the turning point in his life. He helped set up a mobile phone collections business called The Green Foundation. He then left to do work with electronics recycling, looking at wider IT equipment for the region. Afterward, he established a consultancy that oversaw the feasibility of a PET recycling facility in the Middle East. During all this, Ahmed realised the world needed to move towards a circular economy and focused on trying to find a solution to old mobile phones. When he started recycling mobile phones, the profits were used for charity, specifically children who were needing cleft palate surgery. He started a campaign called “Give a Child a Smile for Life” which ended up being a turning point in his career. He finally felt that he could make a profit and feel good, knowing he was helping others.
At Enviroo, we are committed to recycling plastic encompassing every strand of the circular economy recycling model – Ahmed Detta
The Ultimate Solution
Today, Enviroo provides a solution to post consumer plastic waste. They recycle 100% of PET plastic waste and create ‘food-grade’ polymers that are used to recreate food packaging and plastic bottles. They have created a closed-loop recycling method, with long term viability as it ensures transparency, circularity, and sustainability. The executive team at Enviroo is adept at identifying opportunities where plastics recycling can be accelerated or improved from current processes and has developed local market insights to support the ever-growing plastic waste problem. They use innovative technology that segments PET plastic from other supporting components through a highly sophisticated synthesised washing process, coupled with a world class extrusion process. The result is the creation of polymers that can be used in direct food contact packaging. Enviroo’s recycled polymer blends perfectly with virgin PET polymers or can stand alone in the production process. Importantly, Enviroo is involved in every step of the circular economy; from the build of the PET recycling facility to the operations. This ensures transparency, which the recycling industry has most definitely lacked as of late.
Drastic Times Call for Drastic Measures
Enviroo’s mission is to change behavioural habits of plastics users to ensure plastic does not enter oceans and landfill. They strongly advocate responsible recycling that creates unity amongst all circular economy stakeholders, thus ensuring 100% of PET plastic waste is recycled. Enviroo are going one step further in commissioning research into recycling behaviours. By understanding how people can be encouraged to recycle whilst on-the-go, Enviroo can increase recycling rates. Their vision is to provide recycling solutions for PET plastic waste across the United Kingdom which can be embraced by all stakeholders.
For its efforts and contributions to the society, Enviroo has received a number of awards, some of which are listed below:
– Plastic Recycling Experts of the Year in England – 2022
– Best Consumer Plastic Waste Recycling Specialists – UK
– The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to follow in 2021
– Waste and recycling Leader of the Year, UK