The Dutch firm has been operating in the UK for 12 years, and currently has six sites nationwide including two in the North East at South Shields and Hartlepool, one at Immingham in Lincolnshire, at Chatham and Dagenham in the South East, as well as its UK headquarters in Sheffield. The company also operate seven plants overseas in Belgium and The Netherlands, where it began trading in 1947.
Shredder
The new shredder which came online in December, is the companies second in the country, with one already located at its Dagenham site. It is believed that the 6 million investment in its Sheffield site will create 25 new jobs in the area.
The companys operations are focused on buying scrap metal from collectors and merchants, much of which is then exported overseas. Van Dalen’s Immingham and Hartlepool sites are export terminals allowingit to export to the global market by sea.
Tom Bird, Van Dalens UK managing director, said: Although market conditions have been challenging, weve had a really positive 12 months. Going forward, the shredder will transform our Sheffield facility, making it a state-of-the-art metal recycling centre.
The focus on non-ferrous operations will compliment our existing success in the ferrous arena, helping us to grow volume and market share. In turn, we hope to provide further investment and job creation opportunities in the UK.
UK Market
Related Links
In August last year, Mr Bird outlined to letsrecycle.com the companys plans to become a major player in the UK metals recycling industry. He also revealed that the company planned to double its metal recycling capacity in the UK from 500,000 tonnes to 1 million tonnes per year over the next three years (see letsrecycle.com story).
At the time, Mr Bird explained that the company would be expanding its non-ferrous operations, at the Sheffield plant, as well as an in the South East.
Subscribe for free