Axion Recycling Ltd has been purchased in full by metal recycling firm S. Norton & Co.

The company, which recycles non-metallic waste from end-of-life vehicles and electronic goods, was acquired for an undisclosed fee from the five private investors have who jointly owned the business since 2006. Axion and its ancillary branches Axion Polymers and Axion Consulting will now operate as subsidiaries of S Norton.

Manchester-based Axion has two waste processing facilities: its sorting plant in Trafford Park can process up to 200,000 tonnes of shredded waste per year, plastic from which is then transferred to the Salford plant for processing and refining.

S Norton collects and processes metal scrap at its four facilities in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Southampton. Headquartered in Liverpool, S Norton has had an ongoing relationship with Axion for a number of years, with Roger Morton, Axion’s Director since 2001, appointed Managing Director of S Norton in June 2016.

John Norton, S Norton’s Chairman, stated: “We are pleased to announce this change in ownership of Axion Recycling because it clarifies and consolidates the working arrangements between S Norton and the Axion sites.

“We will continue to support the company policy and strategy for sales growth of all products, while at the same time increasing added-value and profitability. We look forward to a successful future based on this strengthened relationship.”

Morton will remain in his position at Axion following the company’s sale, while Marketing Director Keith Freegard, a co-founder of the business, will continue on in a consultant role for the next 12 months. Commenting on the change, Freegard said: “I am immensely proud of the sustainable business that the Axion team has created over the past 16 years and to have grown a successful company in the resource recovery sector that delivers the circular economy, today, while most organisations are only just beginning to think about it.

“This change in ownership further strengthens the long-term sustainability of the ‘grave-to-cradle’ business model that S Norton and Axion can deliver for UK industry and I am sure that growth in product output and new business developments will continue at a similar pace.”

Freegard added: “I am happy to maintain an active link with the team at Axion through my part-time consultancy role and I also look forward to finding some new opportunities in the exciting waste resource recycling sector.”

Axion has confirmed that all its current activities will carry on as normal after the sale, with the company continuing to trade under the same name. This year, Axion has been working with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to help the manufacturer increase the recycled aluminium content of its new cars. JLR’s REALITY project aims to reuse the metal from end-of-life vehicles in a closed-loop system and has been developing advanced sorting technologies to separate the most valuable – and infinitely recyclable – aluminium from the used cars.