A COMPANY based in Bodelwyddan manufacturing plastic products has made redundancies.

Plastecowood Ltd, whose site is on Expressway Business Park, said it “very reluctantly had no option” other than make 19 redundancies, leaving 33 people still employed.

It recycles plastic waste food packaging and manufactures recycled plastic lumber and assembled products.

READ MORE:

Staff at Rhyl seafront pub and restaurant at risk of redundancies

Of those made redundant by the company, one person told the Journal of their dissatisfaction with the way in which Plastecowood has handled matters.

The ex-employee, who asked not to be named, said: “Our yard has been filling up with stuff we sell for a while, so workers were wondering why orders hadn’t been going out.

“Usually, we fill it with stuff, and a lorry comes and takes it away.

“It just seems to me that the company is covering its own backside. It’s upset a lot of people, and messed up a lot our lives.

“We think they knew this would happen a long time ago, but kept us there to fill the yard up with stock, so that they’ve now got months and months of stock there.

“I understand this happens in business, but there’s a way of doing it. I just think the way it’s happened that has bothered us.”

The former member of staff added that workers were told that the redundancies came about after delays in deals with supermarkets, and Plastecowood’s contract with Veolia, an ecological transformation company, ending.

They claimed that interviews were held with all individual members of staff within the last week, before a decision was made on who would lose their jobs.

Plastecowood added that most of those made redundant had been “relatively recently employed” by the company.

Their roles were said to involve contributing to managing increased waste plastic deliveries from leading supermarket chains collecting soft plastic waste which cannot be recycled through the normal recycling channels.

The intention behind these “circular economy” arrangements was that the supermarkets anticipated buying back their waste in finished recycled product.

John Northcott, managing director at Plastecowood, said: “Unfortunately, the supermarkets have not been able to change their procurement quickly enough to absorb the additional product we are manufacturing, and this has resulted in a build-up of some stock levels.

“We expect this to change over coming months, but we have agreed with the supermarkets to reduce throughput pending increased uptake of finished product.

“We very much regret having to make these changes to employment levels but hope to re-employ in coming months when circumstances change and the supermarkets catch up.

“We are grateful to our people for their conscientious contributions to the business and our environmental objectives and wish them very well for the future.”

The company continues to be profitable, Plastecowood added.

Mr Northcott added: “We have a great future ahead of us.

“We have to be adaptable and flexible in difficult times to ensure the company continues to deliver on its environmental and financial mission.”