Leading UK recycling company Viridor has confirmed that it is restructuring part of its business operations at the Lancots Lane recycling facility in St Helens, to secure the future profitability of the business. Viridor has operated the recycling site at St Helens since 2002, when it acquired the business from Richardson Limited. The site recycles flat (plate) glass for reprocessing, along with volumes of container glass, metals and plastics. The restructure will focus the operation on the recycling of a wider range of materials, and on reducing the tonnage of flat glass recycling, which has become increasingly unprofitable over the past two years due to economic conditions. Viridor will shortly be submitting planning and permit applications formalising the change of materials processed at the St Helens facility. As a result of the restructure, there will be a small number of redundancies at St Helens and associated transport operations elsewhere. Consultation and dialogue with employees is continuing, and every effort will be made to assist employees in being redeployed to alternative roles elsewhere within the company. Viridor is also in the process of informing customers who will be affected by the changes. Viridor recently secured the trade waste collections contract in St Helens, and the restructure and focus on mixed material reprocessing will help ensure local businesses continue to be offered high quality commercial recycling services. This contract will not be affected by the restructure of the Lancots Lane facility. Container glass recycling also remains an important and growing part of Viridor's business, having recently committed to making a £6 million investment in the latest technology at Bonnyrigg glass recycling plant in Scotland and opening a similar plant in Sheffield last year.
