Dumfries plastic recycler to add jobs and boost sales thanks to funding deal

A Dumfries-based farm waste recycling business aims to grow its sales by half and add a dozen jobs after using a seven-figure funding package to purchase “state-of-the-art” machinery.

Solway Recycling, which collects about 5,000 tonnes of single-use plastic waste from 3,500 farms across the UK each year, will use the funding support from HSBC UK to import a rolling machine from Europe that will enable it to turn waste into thick, robust sheets of plastic. This will further reduce the carbon footprint of the recycling process and also enable the firm to increase its turnover and profits by 50 per cent over the next five years.

Previously, the business sent its collected raw plastic waste to third-party businesses to create the plastic sheets, which can be used to create outdoor products such as garden benches. The sheets will also be sold on to farmers and other businesses, which will use them for wide-ranging purposes.

The new machinery and way of working at Solway Recycling is set to create 12 jobs, which will focus on operating the new equipment. Managing director Roy Hiddleston said: “We’re working with a new generation of more-environmentally conscious farmers today, and so it’s great to be able to improve the service we offer them. The new machinery will help us speed up our operations and will also allow us to enter new markets as we’ll be able to help other local businesses recycle their plastic too.”

The business visits ten to 12 farms a day to collect and recycle plastic waste products.