Recycler picks up paper firm

RECYCLING UK, the Nantwich-based independent recycled paper merchant, has bought Oswestry Waste Paper for an undisclosed sum.

The Shropshire based company collects and recycles over 30,000 tonnes of waste paper, plastic and other recyclables per year. It operates a fleet of 11 vehicles making collections throughout Shropshire, Cheshire, North and Mid-Wales and the West Midlands.

Recycling UK started trading in 1998 as Fibre Recycling UK Limited and changed its name to Recycling UK Limited in 2005. The company sold over 250,000 tonnes last year to paper mills and packaging firms in the UK, Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Italy, China, and to India and Pakistan through a joint venture company. It has grown substantially in recent years and last year posted a net turnover of almost £28m.

Managing director Neil Clarke said: “Although we are traditionally a trading company, in recent years we have seen a large growth in the source materials that we handle and we have tried to feed such into the processors that we buy from throughout the UK and Ireland.

“Oswestry Waste Paper is one such company that we have a longstanding close relationship with which goes back many years. When Mrs Cheryl Davies decided to sell the company it seemed an ideal opportunity for us both.

“We are keen to keep the very professional business operating in the same manner, and with the regional branding intact.

“We have seen so many local acquisitions changed overnight by large multinationals removing the local brand, and interfering with first class service. We will not be doing such and that appealed to Mrs Davies and her Son Oliver, who will both be involved in the business going forward.”

Recycling UK commercial director Simon Marsden said: “We are all excited about the acquisition as it will give us the opportunity to grow our source tonnage in close proximity to our head office in Cheshire as well as the whole of Shropshire, and further afield in parts of the Midlands.”