Peel deal creates £130 million plastic-waste-for-hydrogen solution

The first will be housed at Peel’s Protos site, comprising 54 acres near port Ellsmere in Cheshire. It involves the use of advanced thermal treatment, employing pioneering distributed modular gasification (DMG) to produce hydrogen from unrecyclable plastics.

Peel Environmental is currently submitting a planning application for the work and aims to create a ‘closed loop’ solution that allows plastics to be recycled on-site with leftover material used to create hydrogen.

Managing director Myles Kitcher said the scheme would address two key environmental concerns – waste disposal and clean energy generation.

“Hydrogen is increasingly being seen as a vital part of our journey to zero carbon. This deal could be transformational in delivering a UK first technology that can generate local sources of hydrogen but also provide a solution to plastic waste. As a business we’re looking at solutions for all plastics with a vision for these facilities to sit alongside recycling and recovery.

“We’re pioneering this solution in the North West but local authorities across the country could benefit from a more sustainable way to treat waste plastic, whilst also creating a local source of low carbon transport fuel which could help them meet their climate change targets.”

Under the three-way agreement, Peel Environmental – part of the Peel L&P group, – will provide real estate and infrastructure support. Waste2Tricity will be the developer of the project and PowerHouse Energy, led by CEO David Ryan, will be the technology and services provider. 

Waste2Tricity managing director John Hall commented: “Along with contributing to a growing circular economy, this innovative technology will undoubtedly play an important role in helping the UK meet its net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, whilst tackling the country’s problem of how to dispose of unrecyclable plastic.”