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£2.2m plans to resurrect mothballed Blaydon recycling plant could create 30 new jobs

A Blaydon waste recycling plant, which was mothballed following the collapse of Lehman Bros, is set to become fully operational once more, thanks to a a £2.2m funding package.

When Lehman Bros collapsed in 2013, plant owners Graphite Resources struggled to find alternative funding, grinding plans for the facility to a halt and resulting in the loss of 70 jobs.

However, holding company Catfoss bought the business at the beginning of this year and with Leeds-based Access Commercial Finance providing a refinancing deal, new life will soon be breathed into the site found at Derwenthaugh Eco Park.

Following the deal, Nick King, Financial Director of Graphite Resources, expects 30 new jobs to be created at the facility with the business generating a £10m turnover.

When it is fully functional, the waste management plant will use autoclaves to sterilise the waste, meaning it doesn’t have to go to landfill and can be used for other purposes such as building or biofuel, alleviating carbon emissions and some of the need for land remediation.

Nick said: “It was difficult to find the right asset finance because of the complexity of our industry, and the waste management process that we use.

“We needed a financier that can gain a better understanding of complicated, almost niche industries like ours and that’s what we’ve found with Access.

“There is a massive amount of specialist equipment needed to facilitate the process and the plant, so consequently it requires a huge sum of asset finance and Access seem to have the specialist knowledge to understand this.”

Matt Haycox from Access Commercial Finance added: “This is just the kind of deal we love – one that other funders just aren’t capable of doing!

“We have always sold ourselves as being a finance provider that excels at providing funding in tricky situations, and this deal is a perfect illustration of that skillset.

“It is a site with immeasurable potential that just needed a financier with enough specialist knowledge & creativity to recognise that.

“It’s really exciting to be involved with a project that has benefits on so many levels, from profit growth, and its ecological merits to job creation in its local community.”

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