M Baker buy-out reinforces Shore operations in England

M Baker Recycling had called in the administrators earlier this month after suffering financial difficulties (see letsrecycle.com story).

Following its buy-out of the troubled firm, Shore Recycling confirmed yesterday that it is now operating both the fridge recycling plant and the cathode ray treatment plant at M Baker's St Helens site.

Malcolm Todd, commercial director at Shore Recycling, revealed that taking over M Baker had increased his company's recycling capacity to 600,000 fridges, 600,000 cathode ray tubes and 40,000 tonnes of small WEEE each year.

He said his company was now talking to all customers and suppliers of M Baker about the continuation of the plant's operations, although he said only a few of M Baker's customers were not already known to Shore Recycling.

Mr Todd explained that the acquisition of M Baker “makes sense” because it would support the existing collection “hub” the company has in Manchester that was previously used as a base to transport WEEE up to its Perth facility.

He said: “We are delighted to have purchased the St Helens site and plant, which will increase our presence in the North of England and reinforces our Manchester operation, which we have had since 2005.

“We are operating both the fridge plant and the CRT plant and production has not been interrupted during the administration process. This gives us a combined capacity of 600,000 fridges, 600,000 CRTs and 40,000 tonnes of small WEEE each year,” he said.

Jobs

Despite the ongoing operations of the St Helens plant, during M Baker's administration period there was a reduction in the work force. However, still at a relatively sensitive period following the administration and subsequent acquisition of M Baker, Mr Todd could not comment on the scale of this work force reduction, nor give firm details of what the jobs situation will be going forward.

Mr Todd could say only that: “We are operating the plant now, working with the very strong work force to improve the efficiency of the operations.”

Following the acquisition of M Baker, the Shore Recycling site in Perth is to remain the company's headquarters.

The site, which has had £10 million of investment poured into it since 2002, is host to a 40,000 tonne-per-annum small WEEE processing facility, making it one of the few “fully-integrated” WEEE processing sites in the UK according to Mr Todd.