(Bloomberg) -- Viridor Ltd., a waste-management company owned by investment firm KKR & Co., plans to close a recycling plant in the UK due to lack of government support and lower demand for recycled plastic.
The company proposed shutting its Avonmouth facility near Bristol, a move that’s subject to a consultation process, it said in a statement. The firm is also reviewing operations at its Rochester site, southeast of London.
Policies announced by previous governments to increase recycling have been “repeatedly delayed,” Viridor said. Prices for recycled plastic have fallen due to overcapacity in the global chemicals market.
“Viridor’s UK mechanical recycling operations have been negatively impacted by persistently and increasingly challenging market conditions, and the absence of planned legislation to increase rates of plastic recycling in the UK,” the company said.
With mechanical recycling, the structure of a plastic isn’t changed significantly when it’s turned into a new product. A different recycling method being looked at by oil companies, where plastics are returned to a synthetic oil and then reprocessed, is in its infancy.
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