A massive recycling plant in Avonmouth that employs 120 people is to close down at the end of the year. The facility, which is owned by waste management company Viridor, only opened in 2022 and cost £317m to build.
The company announced today (Tuesday, November 5) it had come to the “difficult decision” to shut the Avonmouth operation due to “persistently and increasingly challenging market conditions”.
The site diverts hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste away from landfill every year and recycles 1.6 billion plastic bottles, tubs and trays. It also generates electricity through its energy recovery facility that is then exported to the grid.
Employees are now consulting with the company over jobs, although Viridor has refused to confirm how many roles could be lost. Viridor has said it is exploring redeployment opportunities within the wider business for staff impacted by the decision. It is understood, however, that the plant will shut on December 6 and will be decommissioned on December 23.
Viridor has blamed the absence of planned legislation to increase rates of plastic recycling in the UK for the site’s closure.
“Despite sustained investment from Viridor over the last four years to develop its mechanical recycling capability, including building and commissioning the Avonmouth polymers recycling facility and expanding production, recycling rates are below where they were projected to be in 2020,” the company said in a statement.
“Policies announced and planned under the previous government to increase UK recycling, as set out in the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy, have been repeatedly delayed and have not, to date, been implemented.”
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Viridor said the reduced demand for recycled plastic and packaging products from the consumer goods sector had had “a material impact” on the financial viability of its mechanical recycling operations. The firm said broader market conditions had also impacted the business.
“The global virgin polymer market is suffering from overcapacity due to significant growth in production in lower-cost markets outside Europe, leading to significantly reduced demand and prices for recycled plastics,” Viridor added. “At the same time, imported recycled plastics from low-cost countries has increasingly flowed into Europe displacing domestic supply.”
Viridor said it would continue to make investments into the UK’s waste and decarbonisation infrastructure. It added that its Runcorn site remained “integral” to the North West low-carbon and hydrogen energy project HyNet, which was selected to progress by the government earlier this year.
“Today is a particularly difficult day for our colleagues at Avonmouth who have worked incredibly hard under challenging market conditions to make our mechanical plastic recycling operations commercially viable,” the firm added.
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