Van Dalen Recycling Officially Opens UK Auto Shredder

Van Dalen Recycling, a Netherlands-based scrap metal recycling company, has officially unveiled its £6 million investment (US$9.56 million) in a new auto shredder and nonferrous facility at its Sheffield, U.K., location, the site of its U.K. headquarters. 
 

Helping commemorate the opening were the United Kingdom’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Right Honourable David Blunkett, representing Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

 

Van Dalen, which has been in business for 65 years, 12 of which it has operated in the U.K., will use the newly installed equipment and facility to expand its domestic and export capabilities.
 

Clegg says, “Van Dalen is a real Sheffield success story. This investment is great news for Sheffield’s economy and the wider region. As we build a new economy from the rubble of the old, the Liberal Democrats are determined to make sure prosperity is shared across the whole country, not just London and the South East. Companies like this will be at the heart of that recovery, and I am proud to see it go from strength to strength.”
 

Blunkett adds, “This imaginative investment is not only in line with the history and tradition of steel and re-processing in Sheffield, but is an example of how, despite the recession, jobs and economic activity can be created. The investment over the last seven years and the extra jobs are extremely welcome at this moment in time as an example of how responsible businesses can recycle metals for modern reuse.”
 

Van Dalen owns and operates 13 facilities across the Netherlands and Belgium, including six sites in the U.K. The company has annual production of more than 1.5 million metric tons across Europe. 

 

The company estimates that more than 35 percent of the metals processed by the business in the U.K. are handled at Van Dalen’s Sheffield headquarters.
 

“The UK business is running extremely well following a strong performance in 2011,"  Tom Bird, Van Dalen U.K. managing director, says. "The installation of the shredder in Sheffield transforms our site into a complete metals recycling facility. Going forward, we are focused on further growth, not only around the Sheffield region, but the U.K. generally."