Viridor Business Update: Rochester site

We have reached an agreement with N+P, an established industry player and local employer, to sell our equipment at our UK mechanical recycling operations in Rochester. This marks the conclusion of Viridor’s strategic review into the site that we first announced in November 2024 in direct response to challenging market conditions for mechanical recycling in the UK. At the time, Viridor announced it was planning to exit mechanical recycling at its Avonmouth site, the key offtake route for Rochester, which has now closed.

During this strategic review period for the Rochester site, Viridor tested the market thoroughly but regrettably was unable to find a buyer for the business as a going concern. It is therefore proposed that the Rochester site will be-decommissioned and closed. This is difficult news for impacted colleagues and we will begin a collective redundancy consultation process with the 42 employees in the coming days. As part of this process, we will be working with colleagues to help them find new roles in the local area or redeployment opportunities across our Group. It is our understanding that N+P will be looking to relocate the acquired equipment and repurpose it in other UK sites, potentially including nearby Crayford and has the potential to create jobs in their organisation as a result.