Nanxi Group UK was founded in February to ship 2,000 tonnes of waste paper and 500 tonnes of waste plastic a month to be recycled at its facilities in China. The company has already reached these targets by working with businesses across the region and has now begun importing the recycled material back to the UK, where it is used in the manufacture of newspapers, bin liners, sign posts and clothing.
Kun Qian, MD of the Nanxi Group UK, explained: "We buy waste paper and plastic from firms in Manchester, Chester and York and export it to our two recycling factories in Tianjin and Guangzhou in China.
"The Nanxi Group UK has become part of a wider trend, and 67 per cent of Britain's recyclable plastic waste is now exported to China."
Mr Qian said that he explored the possibility of using a north west firm to carry out the recycling, but lower labour costs in Asia meant it was more cost-effective to ship the waste materials to China to be treated.
The group - which also has branches in Tianjin, Tokyo and Hong Kong - has also expressed its intention to expand its UK division. "We are planning to build a factory in the Greater Manchester area to produce recycling bins for homes, factories and offices," said Mr Qian.
"We will then make regular bin collections, shipping the waste paper and plastic to China to be recycled.
"We are also in talks with a company about collecting their waste metal, which would also be exported to China. Metal is very heavy so at the moment we are only in the planning stage."
Nanxi Group UK received support to develop a base in Manchester through the SinoVentures scheme.
This was established by the North West Regional Development Agency in conjunction with Manchester city council, Manchester's inward investment agency MIDAS and Manchester Science Park to support Chinese companies seeking to establish a presence in the city.
Spanish paper and packaging group SIACA has submitted plans for a £250m recycled paper mill to be built in Trafford.
Based in Partington, the mill will use recovered paper to produce 400,000 tonnes of lightweight, 100 per cent recycled paper annually. The paper will be used to manufacture corrugated boxes and boards. The mill will provide around 200 new jobs, should the scheme go ahead.
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