Closure of Vanden’s Whittlesey site reduces UK capacity to recycle PP and HDPE, key plastics used in printer cartridges.
UK-based Vanden Recycling has confirmed it will close its plastics recycling plant in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, by late October 2025. The facility processes post-industrial plastics, including PET, PP and HDPE.
The company said the decision followed “careful consideration”. Vanden noted that the site “lacks the scale needed to support our long-term strategy” and is no longer viable in current market conditions. Rising costs for energy, transport and labour have squeezed margins, while low virgin plastic prices have undercut demand for recycled polymers.
Vanden will now focus on its global trading operations, providing technical feedstock solutions and building international partnerships. The Whittlesey site and its equipment are being marketed through Benchmark International, with staff reductions already underway.
The closure is part of a wider trend across the UK recycling sector. Viridor shut its Rochester site this summer, following the closure of its Avonmouth facility in late 2024. Biffa closed its Sunderland plant in July 2025, which had a processing capacity of around 39,000 tonnes per year. Plastics Recyclers Europe has warned that without stronger policy support, parts of the rigid plastics recycling sector are at risk of collapse.
For UK companies, the impact is immediate: fewer domestic options exist for processing key plastics. More waste may need to be exported, which would add cost and increase environmental risk. For the imaging consumables sector, the loss of capacity is particularly relevant. Printer cartridges often use PP and HDPE in their housings and components. With reuse as the priority, recycling remains essential for end-of-life plastics that cannot be remanufactured. Shrinking UK capacity makes it harder to close the loop locally.
The message from the wider recycling industry is clear. Without regulatory measures to drive recycled content and protect viable reprocessing, even established feedstocks risk being displaced from the market.
