British Polythene Industries plc (BPI) has installed an additional £2million wash plant to double recycling capacity at its Dumfries facility.

The new plant, due to be commissioned in June this year, will allow Dumfries to process a total of 30,000 tonnes of agricultural waste.

The investment is a response to the growing pressure from farmers for outlets to recycle plastic waste in advance of the new farm controls due to come into force in the next few weeks.

A recent announcement by Defra that the Government has decided to implement statutory Producer Responsibility regulations regarding non-packaging farm plastics has also increased the demand for new recycling capacity in the UK.

Andrew Green, managing director of BPI recycled products welcomed Defra’s decision to impose statutory waste regulations.

He said: “Since the collapse of our voluntary industry scheme, Farm Films Producers' Group, 10 years ago, we have always maintained that the most efficient and lowest-cost way to ensure the recycling of plastics from farms was via a mandatory national framework.

“To a large extent our investment is ahead of a market which will only become sustainable once these regulations come into force. However, the announcement from Defra has given us the confidence to take a long-term view of further investment in this sector and to subsidise its operation until the market has developed."

Green said BPI would work with Wales-based plastic waste collector Birch Farm Plastics rather than collect the waste itself.

After 16 years in the business Birch Farm is extending its field of activity from Wales and the border counties across the whole of the UK.

“This is the first phase of our plans substantially to increase both the volume and types of waste farm plastic we recycle and we are currently considering further similar investments in our plant in South Wales and in the Irish Republic,” Green added.