Deeside has been chosen as the site for a global R&D centre for a recycled panel board manufacturer.
Neverwaste™ by Unwasted is the world’s first high performance panel board made entirely from waste, economically and at very large scale.
Unwasted has almost completed a Crowdfunding campaign to create a UK plant and as well as a potential site in West Yorkshire, the company will use expand its current pilot site in North Wales, which will be used to ensure continuous innovation and plant optimisation as the company grows – with £40m in advance orders already from European manufacturers. Around 100 jobs will be created in the UK.
This patented product is created by recycling waste cardboard and packaging that would otherwise be burned or landfilled. Unwasted refines and modifies the fibres to create panels that can be used in the construction industry, suitable for creating doors, flooring, furniture, fitouts and kitchens. They replicate flat wood-based panel boards and as well as being heat and water resistant, are free from glues, resins or toxic chemicals, created entirely from recycled materials. As Neverwaste can be recycled again and again into brand new sheets, it keeps the materials in the loop, stores carbon and eradicates waste as well as saving trees that would be felled to make virgin fibres.
Other suitable sites have been identified in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and Australia. They are to be served by renewable power, with access to feedstock and manufacturing customers, and logistical infrastructure. The company has a view to signing heads of terms with site owners, developers and commercial partners in the next 12 months, with an intention to increase capacity – delivering annual revenues of more than £600m.
The scale-up plan is central to the company’s strategy to maximise the decarbonisation impact of its products across multiple industry sectors, and to meet customers’ rapidly growing need to replace conventional wood-based panels with sustainable alternatives, to meet the requirements of new European legislation.
Unwasted founder and CEO Rod Fountain said: “There is huge demand and need for the construction sector to improve. The world consumes 584 million m3 of wood-based panel products every year and this is simply not sustainable. This will just be the start of a rapid growth plan aimed at providing our big industrial customers with the volume of sustainable product they urgently require.”
“The crowdfunding round is the last seed funding round before our Series A early next year and we are delighted with the level of support we are getting from our existing and new investors.”
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