Remploys recycling arm has future despite cuts

Social enterprise Remploy has insisted that its WEEE recycling arm has a future outside of government subsidy, despite the withdrawal of 320 million in government funding for all its activities.

Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people, confirmed yesterday (July 10) that the government would be withdrawing its subsidy for Remploy, saying that it could be spent more effectively to get thousands more disabled people into work.

Remploy is a a not-for-profit organisation which offers employment opportunities for the disabled. Its WEEE recycling and reuse operation, known as Remploy e-cycle, provides IT recycling and reuse services for local authorities and private organisations at its sites in Porth, South Wales and Heywood, Lancashire.

The organisation – which also offers CCTV monitoring, furniture and fittings manufacture and car component assembly services – employs around 10,000 disabled people nationwide making it the UKs largest employer of people with disabilities.

The governments decision to cut its funding follows the release of a government report in March which revealed that Remploy had made a total loss of 70 million during 2010/11, despite the sites at Porth and Heywood having been judged to be potentially profitable.

Redundancies

As a result of the announcement, it has been confirmed that 27 of the organisations sites will close down between September and December 2012, with more than 1300 redundancies expected.

However, a spokesman for Remploy said that although a solution had not currently been identified for the future of its WEEE recycling operations, it is assessing a number of options to allow the service to continue in its current state, and the organisation expected to be announcing its decision in the autumn.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, he said: Our recycling business is in stage two of the process that was announced by the government yesterday, which means that, as per the governments original announcement in March, it is viewed as having a possible future outside of government subsidy.

There is now an ongoing process of evaluation and research as to how they can survive outside of government subsidy. This might mean that it is bought by another business venture, a cooperative or a management buyout, all of these options are under consideration and we are hoping to make an announcement in the autumn.

The spokesman also confirmed that WEEE recycling at both the sites would continue to function as normal until the situation is resolved.