BBC News features Clean Planet's Sustainability Innovation Centre
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
BBC News has featured the launch of Clean Planet Technologies’ new Sustainability Innovation Centre in Sandwich, Kent, following a visit by BBC Environment Correspondent Fiona Irving on the facility’s opening day.
The Sustainability Innovation Centre, operated by Clean Planet Technologies, part of Clean Planet Group, is designed to convert non-recyclable waste plastics into Sustainable Aviation Fuel, known as SAF.
The launch was covered across several BBC platforms, including BBC News at 18:30, BBC Radio Kent, and a BBC online article.
The BBC feature highlighted the role of the new facility in tackling two major environmental challenges: the large volume of waste plastic that cannot currently be recycled, and the need to reduce the lifecycle carbon emissions associated with aviation fuel.
Speaking to the BBC, Bertie Stephens, CEO of Clean Planet Group, said:
“In a perfect world we’d have no emission aviation, but that’s decades away before we get there.”
He described Sustainable Aviation Fuel as a “great middle ground” in the ongoing effort to decarbonise aviation while longer-term zero-emission aircraft technologies continue to develop.
The BBC article explained that the facility heats non-recyclable plastics to around 450°C in an oxygen-free chamber, producing a synthetic oil that can then be upgraded into aviation fuel. Unlike incineration, the process does not burn the plastic; instead, it converts it into a liquid feedstock for further purification, distillation and upgrading.
The BBC feature also included Matthew Jee, Director of the UK SAF Clearing House, which supports the project. He said the facility represented “one of those pathways to decarbonise the aviation industry”, noting that aviation is “not going away” and therefore needs to be made more sustainable.
The Sustainability Innovation Centre opened at Discovery Park in Sandwich, Kent, and is believed to be the world’s first pilot facility dedicated to converting non-recyclable waste plastics into Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
The Centre forms part of Clean Planet Technologies’ wider mission to develop technologies that support the sustainable use of plastics and reduce carbon emissions. Future activity at the site is expected to include further research into converting waste plastics into hydrogen and monomers, alongside continued development of the company’s waste-plastics-to-SAF pathway.
The BBC coverage followed the formal opening of the Centre, attended by representatives from the UK SAF Clearing House, the British Plastics Federation, local stakeholders and invited guests.
Clean Planet Technologies will continue using the facility to test feedstocks, produce fuel samples and support the wider development of waste-plastics-to-SAF technology.
KMTV also featured the new pilot facility:
Learn more about Clean Planet Technologies' Sustainability Innovation Centre