UK plastics recycler CK Group has gone into administration, hit by factors including tough trading conditions and the slide in oil prices.
The company, which operates under the full title of CKN Holdings, is based in Binbrook, Lincolnshire, and operated two further sites in Hull and Melrose, Scotland.
Graham Newton and Eddie Kerr from BDO were appointed joint administrators of the stricken firm on 13 July.
The company had employed 69 staff across the three sites but 42 employees have since been made redundant.
The joint administrators have continued to trade the company at reduced levels following their appointment and concluded a sale of the business and assets relating to the operations in Hull and Melrose on 19 July, with 17 employees transferred to the purchasers.
The name of the purchaser has not yet been confirmed, due to what BDO called “confidentiality issues”.
The 10 remaining staff members have been retained to maintain basic levels of operation whilst a purchaser is sought for the Binbrook facility.
BDO business restructuring partner, Graham Newton, said: “Unfortunately, the economic climate and difficult trading conditions, together with the impact of oil prices and a reduction in export demand, particularly from China, significantly affected the business.
“However, we have moved quickly to successfully achieve a sale of part of the business securing continued employment for 17 members of staff.
“We are seeking offers for the business and assets of the company's main trading site at Binbrook from several interested parties and will continue to trade whilst a sale is explored.”
The news followed the collapse of Euro Closed Loop Recycling, the company which was formed following the takeover of the Dagenham-based Closed Loop plastic milk bottle recycling facility falling into administration in May.
That failure came almost 12 months after Closed Loop – which was the biggest UK supplier of rHDPE for use in the manufacture of milk bottles – had been acquired by the Dubai-based investment firm Euro-Capital in a pre-pack administration agreement.
Closed Loop opened its 35,000 tonnes-a-year milk bottle recycling plant in 2008 and had been seen as one of the flagship recycling facilities for the plastics sector.
The company was then bought after having posted losses due to challenging trading conditions in early 2015. The takeover saw the company's founder, Chris Dow, leave the business.
The trend for global plastics recyclers to suffer in the current economic climate has continued in China.
A Canadian mixed plastics recycling company, one of the larger such firms in North America, has closed its doors and laid off 155 workers.
Entropex, of Sarnia, Ontario, has ceased operations due to depressed commodity prices for recycled resin.
The firm ranked 13th in a recent listing of largest plastics recyclers in North America, compiled by PRW sister title Plastics News.