Page 20 - Plastics News July 2020

RECOUP celebrates 30 Years in Plastics Henkel concludes 'Plastic waste reduction'
Recycling bond
erman consumer goods company Henkel has
his year RECOUP is celebrating 30 years of working
Gsuccessfully completed a plastic waste reduction
Twithin the plastics recycling value chain. Initially
bond. The five-year, $70m bond is a private placement
set up as a three-year project in 1990 with the primary with Japanese insurance companies Dai-ichi Life and
aim of kick-starting the recycling of PET bottles in the Dai-ichi Frontier Life. Proceeds from this bond will
UK, the charity has brought together operators from help finance key projects and activities under Henkel's
across the value chain to innovate plastic bottle sustainability actions. It also emphasises the
recycling. In 1994, RECOUP's first Local Authority UK company's commitment to enhance a circular
Household Collection Survey reported that 3,150 economy and reduce plastic waste. The bond
proceeds will contribute to finance key projects and
tonnes of plastic bottles were being collected, under
activities in line with Henkel's packaging targets for
eight household bottle collection schemes. Stuart
2025. By then, 100 percent of the company's
Foster, CEO at RECOUP, commented: “No one could
packaging will be
have predicted the r e c y c l a b l e o r
p r e s s u r e a n d r e u s a b l e , t h e
attention placed on amount of fossil-
plastics in recent based virgin plastics
years fuelled by the will be reduced by
50 percent and
'Blue Planet' effect
Henkel wants to
and certainly when
help prevent waste
RECOUP was launched
from being disposed
t h i s w a s n o t
in the environment.
forecasted to be part In March this year,
of our future working Henkel enhanced its
space. Politicians, s u s t a i n a b i l i t y
consumers, media, and businesses are all demanding c o m m i t m e n t t o
change and RECOUP is central to delivering that change m a k e 1 0 0 % o f
through increased recycling and more efficient use of Henkel's packaging
r e c y c l a b l e o r
plastic resources.
reusable by 2025. It
“Clearly, it cannot be right to allow plastics to leak into also planned to
the environment, but neither is it acceptable to lose reduce the amount of fossil-based virgin plastics by
the opportunity to use plastic where it is the most 50%. Henkel CFO Marco Swoboda said: “Sustainability
appropriate and cost-effective material for so many is not only firmly embedded in our strategic
applications. We look forward to working with the framework for the future but also increasingly
relevant for investors and the financial market. “We
support of our members to encourage and help foster
are proud to be the first corporate issuer of a plastic
the right conditions to allow for a viable and resilient
waste reduction bond, once more demonstrating our
system plastics recycling system across the UK.”The
ability to conclude innovative sustainable investment
charity's latest survey (2019) reported that 370,890 instruments at attractive terms.“By linking financing
tonnes of bottles were collected for recycling, with all concepts to our plastic waste reduction initiatives, the
UK local authorities providing a kerbside collection finance team shows its continuous commitment to
service. RECOUP is now seeking to discuss the actively contributing to our sustainability agenda.”
challenges within the low collection rates of film, pots, Multinational investment bank and financial services
tubs and trays, in relation to its 2025 targets. holding company HSBC served as the Green
Structuring advisor and lead manager in relation to the
transaction.

July 2020 20 Plastics News