Nampak, the South African packaging company which owns Plysu, announced earlier this month that it was closing Plysu Recycling and as no buyer had come forward, was selling the company's assets as a going concern. But another company is now thought to be in negotiations with Nampak over buying some of the business.
The deal could see a recycling company take over some of Plysu's equipment and this will be good news for Milton Keynes Council who has suffered as a result of Plysu's closure. And contrary to concerns that the company's closure will have a negative impact on the market, chief executive of plastics recycling organisation Recoup, Andrew Simmons, said that the change could have a positive impact. “The buyer will be purchasing the recycling business as part of its core business and will therefore want to drive it forward as part of its core activity. Plysu has a strong brand for the new owners to build on and they will no doubt look to develop it further.”
Waste minimisation officer for Milton Keynes Council, Gill King told letsrecycle.com how the closure of Plysu Recycling had had “immediate and serious” effects for the council as it had been “misled” by Nampak and had now completely run out of kerbside boxes.
Ms King said that Nampak told the council that its rationalisation plans would not effect the recycling side of the business and the council was only told of Nampak's decision to close Plysu Recycling two weeks before Christmas. But even then, Ms King said that the council was not unduly worried about the situation as it was told that the company would release the moulding tool to another plastics recycler so that the boxes, which are used throughout Milton Keynes, could continue being made. It is thought that although Linpac was looking at buying the mould, some problems with this emerged.
Quotes
Ms King said: “Nampak kept reassuring us that its plans wouldn't effect the recycling side. But we have been a bit misled. If we had known that Plysu was going to be closed we would have started looking for quotes from other companies earlier. And once we were told, Plysu said that they would make us one last batch for us after Christmas but they didn't.”
Plysu's closure has meant that the council, which normally replaces 1,200 boxes a month, has completely run out of kerbside boxes and will not have any for at least another six weeks. Ms King said: “When residents phone up for a box and we have run out, it puts them off. It doesn't help our PR, especially with new residents. But people can put material out in plastic bags.”
As the kerbside recycling scheme has been established for a long period of time, most residents have a Plysu box and kerbside boxes made by different companies vary in size and design which causes stacking problems between makes.
Ms King said: “Each household has two boxes and so if we replace one box it won't match the original and they won't stack properly.”
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