SITA UK Sells Metal Recycling Yards to EMR

Following an extensive decision SITA UK has announced the sale of five of its metals recycling facilities in the United Kingdom to European Metal Recycling (EMR). The decision follows SITA’s July 2013 announcement of a formal review of its metals recycling division.

The five facilities are located in Boreham, Coventry, Lenwade, Norwich and Sheffield. With the sale of the facilities SITA UK no longer has any metals recycling facilities in the U.K.

Several reports indicate that since acquiring the metals recycling assets, SITA UK has struggled with the division. According to a SITA UK spokesman, when the facilities were operating the plants processed a combined total of around 500,000 metric tons of scrap metal per year. However, the company ceased processing metals in July when it decided to sell off the assets.

SITA UK is a subsidiary of Suez Environnement, a recycling and resource management company based in Paris. While the company has exited the metals recycling industry, the company says it still has ambitious plans to develop new recycling and resource management operations. The spokesman notes that in 2013 the company has been selected as the preferred bidder on two public-private partnership contracts with a combined value of more than £2 billion over the next 25 years.

A spokeswoman at EMR refused to comment on the acquisition.