Metal recycling arm targets 5 million tonnes of processing capacity in five years

By Carolina Curiel

ScrapMonster Author

EDGWARE (Scrap Monster): The London, UK-based Liberty House Group has announced the launch of a new metal recycling arm. The metal recycling business titled ‘Liberty Metal Recycling’ (LMR) aims to achieve close to 5 million tonnes per annum processing capacity within a period of five years. The opening of the new division is part of the company’s Greensteel strategy which proposes building of a competitive and sustainable steel sector in the UK. LMR plans to launch state-of-the-art ferrous and non-ferrous metals collection and processing centres across the UK, the USA and continental Europe.

The new metals recycling division will be led by two prominent figures in the global metal recycling industry. The US and the UK operations will be led by Tom Bird, former president of the European Ferrous Recovery & Recycling Association (EFR), who has held leading positions in Sims and Van Dalen. The mainland Europe operations will be headed by Matthijs de Jong who has held leading positions in Euro Scrap, TSR Recycling and the Alba Group.

Meantime, Sanjeev Gupta, Liberty House executive chairman described the launch of the new division as a significant step in its journey towards the delivery of its Greensteel vision. The recruitment of two of the most prominent and accomplished industry leaders indicates the company’s commitment on delivering this vision, Gupta said. The projected scrap supply growth in the UK and other developed economies will boost the global steel industry expansion, Gupta added.

The new division will act as an independent unit, said Liberty House Group press release. The metals recycling unit will supply domestic scrap to the group’s integrated steel business in the UK. The Group plans to establish processing centre at Newport, South Wales, adjacent to its hot strip mill. The processing centre is expected to create a few dozen jobs in the region. It intends to restart production of liquid steel from recycled scrap at the facility. In addition to Newport, the Group will also set up processing facilities close to its steel melting and rolling facilities. The press release states that regions of high scrap metal generation including the South East, Midlands, North East and Scotland could see new recycling centres coming up. In the UK alone, it plans to process nearly 5 million tonnes of scrap per annum, within five years. Incidentally, Liberty House operates steel making facilities at Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland, which it acquired from Tata Steel.

In addition to the UK, LMR will also develop its recycling business in the US and in continental Europe. The group had recently opened a scrap collection and trans-shipment facility in Poland.

About Liberty House Group

Liberty House Group is an international business, specializing in metals trading as well as the manufacture and distribution of steel and advanced engineering products. Operating from four strategically positioned financial hubs in London, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, the Group has sites in Europe, Africa, the Far and Middle East, Australia and North America. With a network of offices spread across 30 countries around the world, its current turnover is approximately $4.3 billion and it employs approximately 3,000 people globally.