North East tyre recycling plant seals investment boost from British Airways owner

British Airways owners IAG has announced an investment into a Norwegian company which is building a waste tyre recycling plant in the North East.

Wastefront AS – which was launched in Oslo six years ago by former Sunderland University student Christian A. Hvamstad – is creating a complete supply chain for used tyres, through the launch of a £1m plant at Port of Sunderland. Once at full capacity, the Wastefront facility will be ale to process around 80,000 tonnes of tyres per year, turning the used tyres into Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

IAG says the deal marks another step forward in its commitment to sustainable fuels, while also enabling Wastefront to begin construction on its fully circular tyre-to-fuel facility at the port.

The plant will start operating next year and once fully operational the following year it will process up to 10m waste tyres each year, a fifth of the amount the UK currently generates each year. At the moment most of the 50m end-of-life tyres are exported each year to countries such as India where they are incinerated in cement plants or disposed of in landfills.

Facilities like Wastefront’s planned Sunderland plant are critical to meeting the UK’s SAF mandate, which came into effect at the start of the year, requiring at least 10% of all jet fuel used in flights departing the UK to come from sustainable feedstocks by 2030, rising to 22% by 2040.

Jonathon Counsell, IAG’s group sustainability officer, said: “We’re proud to support innovators like Wastefront, who are finding new forms of feedstocks to produce advanced fuels. However, as global demand for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) grows, it’s crucial to expand production in the UK. The recent Government mandate will help reduce aviation’s overall carbon impact, but airlines need confidence that the planned revenue certainty mechanism will support UK businesses in developing SAF technology without further increasing the cost base for UK airlines.”

Vianney Valès, CEO of Wastefront, said: “At Wastefront, our mission is to turn a problematic waste stream into a highly valuable resource. We can create SAF at an extremely competitive cost with a very low environmental footprint - capable of reducing carbon emissions in the production process of up to 80% compared to traditional jet fuels. This investment is a testament to the potential of Wastefront’s technology in tackling waste and air pollution.”

The investment by IAG is part of its broader strategy to reduce carbon emissions in its operations, across its airlines Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and LEVEL. The group has already secured more than a third of its 2030 SAF target and was the first European airline group to pledge 10% SAF usage by 2030.

By 2030, Wastefront plans to operate four large-scale plants, collectively producing 128,000 tonnes of derived oil annually, which is then refined into road fuels and SAF.

Matthew Hunt, director at Port of Sunderland, said: “Today’s announcement by IAG represents a significant vote of confidence in Wastefront’s plans to establish a world-leading end-of-life tyre recycling facility at Port of Sunderland.

“Upon completion, the facility will recycle hundreds of thousands of tonnes of end-of-life tyres every year and convert them into sustainable green aviation fuel, positioning the port at the heart of the UK’s circular economy while further strengthening the port’s reputation as a global advanced materials processing hub.