Glenrothes recycling plant in administration months after opening

Image source, Getty Images

A modern recycling plant in Fife has gone into administration only seven months after it opened, due to a lack of waste plastic.

Yes Recycling of Glenrothes, which has 60 workers, is unable to pay its debts because it has been operating under capacity.

Administrators Grant Thornton are looking for a buyer who can retain the business and staffing.

Yes Recycling's parent company in Buckinghamshire is not affected.

The Fife plant is based on the Whitehill Industrial Estate in Glenrothes and operates a 15,000 tonne per annum plastics recycling facility.

It began production in September 2022, carrying out recycling of mixed plastics, both 2D and 3D.

Crisp packet recycling

It specialises in turning hard-to-recycle flexible food packaging such as crisp packets and chocolate wrappers into plastic flakes, pellets and a new product called Ecosheet, which can be used in the construction and agriculture industries.

Julie Tait, restructuring director at Grant Thornton said: "While the business has invested heavily in state-of-the-art recycling equipment, it had not yet been able to operate at full capacity and this has resulted in cash flow challenges in recent weeks.

"The company was unable to pay its debts as they fell due resulting in our appointment as joint administrators.

"This is a disappointing outcome for all those associated with the company, and our immediate priority is to support the company's 60 employees while we assess the company's financial position and seek a buyer for its business and/or assets."

Yes Recycling had formed partnerships with Morrisons and Nestle in recent months.