QC Polymer entered administration on 29 October, with Hasib Howlader and Nimish Patel of Hudson Weir appointed joint administrators.
On 6 November, on the eve of the public inspection of assets to be sold at auction at the company, based in Bilston, Wolverhampton, it was found that the entire rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) recycling plant had been stolen.
Hudson Weir had instructed G J Wisdom & Co. as valuers and auctioneers to oversee the sale of QC Polymer’s plastic bottle recycling plant.
On 6 November, when Garry Wisdom of G J Wisdom & Co. arrived at the factory to prepare for the pre-auction public viewing, Wisdom found that the building was empty, with the entire plant missing, having been stolen.
The administrators had estimated that it would have taken seven days to dismantle this plant, and a fleet of 10 articulated lorries and two cranes to cart it away.
The inventory comprised of specialist plastic bottle recycling equipment including a bail break, trommel separator, cap and label separator, Tomra Autosort bottle sorter with EM3 metal sensor, a steam boiler, hot wash tanks, and a hot air drying system plus two polymer preparation systems, a dissolved air floatation system for water filtration, and much more.
On its website, G J Wisdom & Co. is now offering for auction a range of kit that remained at the site.
This includes a Yangzhou Zhongrui Boiler Co. Steam Bolier; Amstar Machinery kit including a Hot Wash Tank, a Screw Conveyor, and a Floating Tank; and a Polymer Preparation System and Polymer Preparation Unit from Wuxi Yosun Environmental Protection Equipment.
While QC Polymer is not itself named on the auction notice, the company’s trading address in Bilston is listed as the address for viewing and collection of the machinery, while a note states: “Following the theft of the main rPET recycling line, the above machines remain and are available for sale at no reserve.”
Viewing is by appointment only at the site at the Cannon Business Park in Bilston from 9am to 3pm next Monday (9 December). The auction will then end at 2pm on 10 December. Collection will be by appointment only from the Bilston site from 9am to 3pm on 12 and 13 December.
On 19 November, G J Wisdom & Co. had posted details of a £25,000 reward it is offering for information leading to the recovery and sale of the stolen machinery, which it said was stolen between 18 October and 4 November.
