Enva Invests £9.5 Million In UK Refrigerator Recycling Infrastructure

Enva is reinvesting £9.5 million in the UK’s refrigerator recycling infrastructure, raising its overall processing capacity to more than 2.3 million appliances, equivalent to over 100,000 tonnes per year. This significantly strengthens domestic compliance with refrigerator recycling regulations. The new investment will enable Enva to install a new refrigerator recycling line at its Grantham facility, adding approximately 8,000 tonnes of annual processing capacity when it becomes fully operational in February 2028.

The new production line replaces the old technology and will be installed alongside Enva’s existing refrigerator processing operations. This ensures that customer service and treatment capacity remain uninterrupted during the development process.

The Grantham project has significantly enhanced the scale and resilience of its UK electronic waste recycling infrastructure. This includes a new 124,000-square-foot refrigerator recycling facility at Crossways Business Park in Dartford. The facility is designed to process approximately 35,000 tons of WEEE and refrigerators annually, utilizing advanced recycling technologies capable of recovering more than 98% of refrigerator components. The new Grantham production line will employ the same technology.

The increase in domestic processing capacity has eliminated the potential need to export equipment to Europe for recycling, ensuring that valuable recycled materials remain within the UK’s resource economy.

Barry Phillips, Managing Director of Enva E-Waste and Glass, said:

Over the past year, the UK refrigerator recycling market has experienced significant pressure in terms of available processing capacity. We provide practical short-term solutions for our customers while continuing to invest in the permanent infrastructure needed in the UK. The new Grantham line is another important part of this investment. Together with the new facility in Dartford, it will greatly enhance our capacity to process refrigerators in the UK and offer reliable, long-term disposal solutions for our customers, effectively addressing the capacity issues anticipated in 2026. Importantly, we will continue to support our customers during the development of new infrastructure. Additional storage provides a temporary solution with clear subsequent disposal routes, rather than simply pushing the problem further down the line. These investments are part of Enva’s ongoing plan to strengthen its UK e-waste recycling network, increase household waste processing capacity, and recover more valuable materials from end-of-life electrical equipment, supporting the transition toward a more circular economy.