Enva expands UK fridge recycling capacity

Enva is expanding its capacity for recycling end-of-life refrigeration appliances in the UK. The waste management and recycling company is investing a further GBP 9.5 million in its infrastructure, including a new treatment line at its Grantham facility. Once the projects currently under way are completed, Enva’s total UK processing capacity is expected to exceed 2.3 million refrigeration appliances, equivalent to more than 100,000 tonnes per year.

New Grantham line due in 2028
The new treatment line in Grantham is scheduled to become fully operational in February 2028 and will add around 8,000 tonnes of annual processing capacity. This will increase the site’s total capacity to approximately 33,000 tonnes per year.

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The new line will replace older equipment and will be installed alongside the existing facility, allowing refrigerator treatment operations to continue throughout the construction and commissioning period.

The investment forms part of a broader programme to expand the UK’s treatment infrastructure for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Enva said the move is intended to address shortages in domestic refrigerator treatment capacity that have affected the UK market in 2026.

Dartford facility to process 35,000 tonnes a year
Another major element of the expansion is a new recycling centre at Crossways Commercial Park in Dartford. The 124,000 sq ft facility, equivalent to around 11,500 square metres, is scheduled to begin operations in February 2027.

The site will have an annual processing capacity of around 35,000 tonnes of WEEE and refrigeration appliances.

According to Enva, the recycling technology deployed at the facility will be capable of recovering more than 98% of the materials contained in refrigeration appliances. The same technology is also planned for the new treatment line in Grantham.

By expanding domestic treatment capacity, Enva aims to reduce the need to export end-of-life appliances to continental Europe for recycling. The company also intends to retain a greater proportion of recovered materials within the UK recycling loop.

Temporary storage to ease capacity constraints
Until the Dartford facility comes online, Enva is creating additional interim storage capacity in Bury St Edmunds. The site will be able to temporarily store up to 5,000 tonnes of refrigeration appliances. The stored material is expected to be processed gradually once the new Dartford plant begins operations.

The UK Environment Agency had previously authorised Enva to temporarily store up to 2,000 tonnes, or around 50,000 refrigeration appliances, at its Corby site.

The additional storage capacity is intended to provide short-term relief from current bottlenecks in the UK’s treatment infrastructure while new permanent processing capacity is brought online.

More information: enva.com

Enva UK Bidco Ltd, Paisley/Linwood, UK

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