Industry

The Greensboro-headquartered business specialises in identifying cost savings for customers and increasing their profitability through recycling solutions. Reconomy said the deal cements Lincoln's position as a top-three asset-light waste operator in the US, citing the country's low recycling rates and heavy reliance on landfill as long-term growth opportunities.

The Environment Agency served a revocation notice on Windmill Services Ltd, which must now cease all permitted activities or face prosecution. The site has not been operational since November following earlier enforcement action. During the 23 March operation, supported by the DVSA, West Lancashire Borough Council and Knowsley Council, officers also inspected five permitted sites and used drone support from the Joint Unit for Waste Crime.

The enforcement comes days after the government and Environment Agency announced a Waste Crime Action Plan with new powers and doubled funding. Waste Minister Mary Creagh said the crackdown showed "zero tolerance" for waste criminals.

The facility will receive sorted plastic from Eurokey's existing plant in Kettering, less than ten miles away, and convert it into pellets ready for manufacture into new packaging. Reconomy said the closed-loop system would reduce export dependency, lower transport emissions and cut reliance on virgin plastics. Latest government data shows only around 51 per cent of UK plastic packaging is recycled domestically.

The construction phase is almost complete and the site is expected to create more than 30 jobs. Mike Benton, Recycle Loop Managing Director at Reconomy, called the project "an exceptional milestone" for the company and the UK's plastics recycling industry.

The arrest, carried out on 25 March in a dawn raid with West Midlands Police, relates to fraud within the Packaging Producer Responsibility regime. Accredited exporters and reprocessors can sell credits for packaging waste they handle, which producers must then buy to meet their recycling obligations. The Environment Agency says the investigation concerns credits sold for exports that never happened.

It is the second arrest linked to packaging credit fraud in recent weeks. In February, two individuals were arrested in Penzance as part of a separate investigation into packaging fraud worth more than £6 million. The Environment Agency has also published a 10 Point Plan to tackle waste crime, including the creation of an Operational Waste Intelligence and Analysis Unit.