CO Fermanagh plastics manufacturer RE-KKUR has announced plans to expand into new markets after significant investment at its Lisnaskea base.
Founded ten years ago, the company specializes in fabricating plastics products for the construction industry from recycled waste polymers.
Its product range, made from using industrial plastic materials, are used by plastering, insulation and exterior protection professionals across the island of Ireland and Britain.
The Fermanagh firm’s growth plans have been accelerated by £575,000 from Whiterock Finance.
Whiterock is the fund manager for Invest NI’s Growth Loan Funds, which offer financial backing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a mix of public and private funding.
RE-KKUR said the backing has helped the company grow from a staff of nine to 29, producing around 10 million metres of product per year.
It has now invested in the development of a new recycling plant to process its own polymer raw materials. The manufacture said its investment in recycling materials, which otherwise would end up in landfill, has opened a new market opportunity for high quality polymer raw material, with sales increased both with local and export customers.
Its polymer processing division ‘Jaguar Polymers’, has emerged one of the north’s only producers of recycled polymer raw material.
RE-KKUR said it is currently using 1,500 tonnes of recycled polymer each year, sourced within its facilities in Lisnaskea, but is aiming to increase its output to 5,000 tonnes of high grade recyclate per annum by 2024.
Managing director, Vincent McCoy, said: “Given the current shift towards green manufacturing and widespread acknowledgement of the need to recycle and reduce the creation of new virgin plastics globally, we have undertaken various R&D projects to investigate increased use of a wide range of target materials including post-consumer recycled materials, packaging waste and other blended polymers.
“Using a wide range of recycled polymers to produce our products has helped us manage raw material costs, provided increased supply to underpin growth targets and given us greater ability to mitigate material shortages and price increases,” he added.
“All of these are problems facing other manufacturers and so we believe that this technology provides us with a huge opportunity to sell to new customers in new markets.”
Una Warnock, head of portfolio at Whiterock Finance, said: “RE-KKUR is a great example of an innovative business which we have backed at numerous stages in its growth journey, with funding helping it at various points to increase production, hire new staff and perhaps most importantly to develop the new process which will enable the company to grow into previously untapped sectors and new geographical markets.
“Recent funding has allowed the company to purchase market leading electrostatic separation equipment to process a pure recycled material to rival virgin polymers.”
