Daring thieves strip PET recycling facility

Recyclers in Europe and possibly beyond are being urged to look out for PET recycling equipment that has been stolen in its entirety from a UK facility. The value of the missing machinery is put at £1.3million (EUR 1.6 million).

The heist took place at QC Polymer’s site at Bilston in the West Midlands. The company went into administration on 29 October and a public viewing ahead of an auction was scheduled for 6 November. On the eve of the inspection, however, the industrial unit was found to be empty and all the manufacturing equipment due to be sold had been stolen.

Extraordinary theft

Auctioneers GJ Wisdom calculate it would normally take four weeks to dismantle such a plant and six lorries would be needed to take it all away. Hasib Howlader of administrators Hudson Weir called the theft ‘an extraordinary turn of events’.

‘The theft was conducted over three days showing that this was clearly pre-planned and premeditated but, more to the point, the factory building showed no signs of forced entry,’ Howlader said. ‘The inventory of the equipment that was removed from site was highly specialist PET recycling machinery with a limited market for its sale and disposal.’

‘We are asking the industry to be on the lookout for this type of technology being offered, second hand, at well below market value.’

Growth plans

QC Polymer was acquired by India-based Mysore Petro Chemicals in early 2024. The new owners aimed to achieve revenues of £100 million within five years by leveraging innovation in rPET technology. The output of production line was 18 000 tonnes per year of 100% clear flakes.

The inventory stolen in the daring raid included:

• Bail Break, Trommel Separator, Cap & Label Separator, Tomra Autosort Bottle Sorter with EM3 Metal Sensor
• Ken Mills Aries Horizontal Bailer, Label Remover, Pre-Washer, Granulators, Floating Tanks, Centrifugal Dryers
• Steam Boiler, Hot Wash Tanks, Hot Air Drying System, Blow Down Vessel, Tomra Optical Flake Sorter, Eddy Current Separator
• Discharge Silo & Twin Bagging Stand, as well as various connecting conveyors
• Boge Direct Air UK Air Compressor with a 1000L Tank & Dryer
• Two Polymer Preparation Systems
• Dissolved Air Floatation System for water filtration

The auctioneer looking after the sale, Garry Wisdom, said before the theft that it was sad to see the failure of a green technology business at the forefront of its sector, partly because of energy costs. He thought the Government could offer incentives such as reduced energy rates to similar businesses in the environmental sector.

Anyone with information can contact Hasib Howlader at: [email protected] or on +44 (0)20 7099 6086.