Major recycling and waste management company SITA UK has begun a consultation that may lead to the closure of its metal recycling division.
A 45-day consultation period has begun for members of staff at the company’s seven metals processing sites, who have been informed that they are at risk of redundancy.
The review follows difficult trading conditions within the metals recycling market, which have persisted for several years. Trading conditions have been exacerbated by the decline nationally and globally in both demand and the pricing of metals within commodities markets.
SITA UK chief executive Dave Palmer-Jones said: “We have built up an excellent metals recycling team and service for our customers which has led the way in setting industry standards within metals recycling, making today’s announcement all the more difficult. We have decided to launch this formal review, however, following years of difficult trading conditions and no sign of improvement in the medium term.
“Although within the metals recycling division we will stop accepting metals at the gate, we will continue to collect all the skips that remain at our customers’ premises and we will process the metals we collect from them as normal. We will be contacting all our metals customers over the coming days.
“We will review the feedback we receive during the consultation process over the next 45 days and a formal decision will be made about the future of our metals recycling decision in late August.
“In the meantime SITA UK’s core business, involving the management and delivery of recycling and waste management contracts in the public and private sectors, continues to trade strongly.”
The seven facilities affected by the consultation are in North Tyneside, Boreham, Lenwade, Norwich, Hayes, Sheffield and Coventry.
