Sector company spotlight
The emergence of new companies and new technologies shows the green sector offers business opportunities. Go Green Investments takes a look at some of the companies that are leading the way.
Company spotlight: 2K Manufacturing 
The company: award-winning 2K Manufacturing recovers waste plastics and gives them a new lease of life as high-performance, environmentally sustainable products.
The challenge: plastics are a valuable natural resource. They are derived from fossil fuels and created at substantial energetic and environmental cost. Yet, we have come to treat plastics as the ultimate throw-away consumer commodity, using them in an all-pervasive multitude of short-term applications.
The amount of plastics destined for landfill or incinerations remains high. This is because the majority of simple, everyday items are made from a variety of polymer types used in combination. Without any realistic prospect of separating co-mingled polymers back into their constituent elements, recycling is a challenge.
This leads to the burning or burying of used plastics and the process is started again with virgin polymers which drives the depletion of global resources and further aggravates environmental damage.
Ground-breaking technology: 2K Manufacturing uses powder impression moulding, a ground-breaking technology, which combined with rigorous process controls, turns co-mingled polymer waste into high-performance, environmentally sustainable products. These, in turn, can be recycled repeatedly.
The multi award-winning Ecosheet is made from recycled waste plastics otherwise headed for landfill. Ecosheet offers substantial environmental, commercial and operational benefits for its users, with the construction and signage industries being the main target markets.
2K Manufacturing has licensed the use of the ground-breaking powder impression moulding technology, a patented process owned by ERT plc. The process allows the production of strengthened plastic composite forms using low-grade co-mingled polymer material, in a low carbon footprint moulding process. The system treats the mixed plastic at a low heat and low pressure, which effectively granulates the feedstock making it ready for reuse.
Major investment: the company has already attracted funding from leading environmental investment firm Foresight which is expected to take the organisation to the next level.
According to Kent-based Foresight, 2K represents a compelling investment opportunity in an attractive area of the environmental infrastructure market. It believes that the strength and experience of management, coupled with the innovative product and patented process, means that 2K Manufacturing is well placed to capitalise on the opportunities that lie ahead.
2K Manufacturing is expected to build on the success of its first facility near Watford, North London, by developing a further 11 plants throughout the UK.
Company spotlight: Closed Loop Recycling
The company: with one plant built, a second one imminent and three more in the pipeline, Closed Loop Recycling is making headway as the UK's first food grade plastics recycler.
The challenge: it's estimated that almost six million tonnes of plastic finds its way into the UK waste stream every year and only 20 per cent of this is recovered with the remainder destined for landfill sites.
A new life: Closed Loop Recycling is ensuring that an increasing number of plastic bottles are converted into high-grade flakes that can be used for food packaging. The company processes both soft drinks and water bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and milk bottles made from high density polyethylene (HDPE).
Several businesses have committed to using more environmentally-sound forms of packaging which is creating demand for Closed Loop Recycling's services.
State of the art: the Dagenham plant is the first to use state-of-the-art technology to sort, wash and super clean both types of plastic meeting European and United States standards and can recycle 35,000 tonnes of bottles each year. That translates into 875 million bottles that would otherwise have been exported for recycling, or sent to landfill and a saving of approximately 52,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The company is also using its expertise to advise brands and retailers on how to use recycled plastic.
Closed Loop Recycling chose North Wales as the location for its second plastic recycling plant. The initiative has received private equity funding from leading alternative asset manager, Foresight Group, and public sector funding from the Welsh Assembly.
Company spotlight: BIOGEN
The company: we throw millions of tonnes of food away each year but this can be the source of renewable energy and rich fertiliser, as BIOGEN has been proving since 2005.
The process: a unique farm-based application of established anaerobic digestion uses bacteria in a sealed chamber to break down the food waste and produce a methane-rich biogas and a nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser.
Widely recognised: the process is widely recognised by government and leading environmental bodies as one of the best methods for managing food waste because it reduces greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.
BIOGEN's pioneering full scale commercial Twinwoods plant operates in harmony with the farming environment, in co-operation with sister company Bedfordia Farms. The system is a 'closed loop' - slurry from the pig farm is pumped directly into the anaerobic digestion unit and bio-fertiliser from the anaerobic digestion unit is put directly onto the arable land.
The company is committed to using emerging technologies to create innovative solutions that will be of benefit to the local community and the global environment and is now working on rolling out second generation plants in partnership with other farmers and landowners throughout the UK.