A company that received £2m from Zero Waste Scotland to chemically recycle crisp packets and black plastics into oil has gone into administration.

Recycling Technologies, which is based in Swindon in Wiltshire and has additional facilities in Perthshire, had hoped to raise funding on top of existing deals worth £65 million for the forward sale of oil from its machine.

It generated upwards of £10 million via grants and investment rounds, but the project was hit by a string of delays after originally planning to have a machine operational in Scotland in 2018.

The company also featured on the One Show on the BBC in 2018 and hosted a string of MPs at its sites.

Recycling Technologies was due to float on the stock market in 2021, but these plans were later ditched. The company’s director, Adrian Griffiths, then resigned in April 2022 for “personal reasons”.

Following an “unsuccessful” process to seek additional investment, the company appointed Interpath Advisory as administrators.

“Regrettably, the majority of the group’s 73 employees have been made redundant, with a small number retained to assist the joint administrators with the closing down of its sites,” the administrators said.

Mr Holloway, who is Interpath Advisory’s managing director, said: “Our immediate priority is to assist those members of staff who have been made redundant, providing them with the support and information they need to make claims to the redundancy payments device.

“We will also be looking to realise the assets of the business and its intellectual property and would encourage any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible.”

Chemical recycling technologies are generally seen as having a part to play in the recycling of plastics although projects have in the past been slow to develop. There has also been claims that mechanical recycling of plastics is a better solution.