Sheffield firm plans £50m Gateshead materials recovery facility as it rebrands to MATIQ. Sheffield-based materials recovery firm Direct Special Metals has rebranded as MATIQ and confirmed plans to invest approximately £50 million in a new facility at Derwenthaugh Ecoparc in Gateshead, which the company says will become the UK's most advanced materials recovery facility.

The rebrand comes alongside a contract win with City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council to receive and process co-mingled dry mixed recycling collected across the district, running to 31 March 2029 with an option for a further year.

The Gateshead facility, on the former Graphite Resources site, will increase the group's processing capacity and create what MATIQ describes as a strategic recovery hub for the North East. The company, founded in Sheffield in 2013, completed a £25 million investment in its Sheffield site in 2024 before progressing the Gateshead development.

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