Galway firm JFC Manufacturing has become the largest recycler of plastic bottles in Britain following two acquisitions in England.

The move is part of a €5 million-plus investment, which will also see the substantial expansion of the company's Tuam plant.

JFC Manufacturing has bought Delleve Plastics in Stratford-upon-Avon and Reprise Plastic Recycling in St Helens. The two firms convert plastic bottles mainly to corrugated plastic pipes.

The acquisitions mean the company will double at size. Employment at the Irish plant will increase by 25 people to 75. JFC employs 140 overall and has operations in Britain, the Netherlands and Poland.

JFC Manufacturing was founded by managing director Mr John Concannon in 1987. It produces plastic products, predominantly for the agricultural and industrial sectors.

The company made pre-tax profit of €752,213 in 2002, the most recent year for which accounts are available and had retained profits of €6.28 million at that time.

The Galway company exports its plastic products to places as far away as Korea and Canada. But its latest acquisitions in the UK represent the single most significant leap forward for the firm since its establishment.

The purchases give JFC the processing capacity to convert more than 20,000 tonnes of plastic bottles into corrugated drainage pipes at the UK plants. Britain recycles just 25,000 tonnes of plastic bottles a year out of 450,000 tonnes in circulation.

But that is considerably higher than the 2,000 tonnes recycled in Ireland.

Mr Concannon, said his company was willing to take Ireland's used plastic bottles and convert them into raw materials for pipes at the UK plants if local authorities here establish more kerbside and communal collection services.

In Britain, 62 per cent of local authorities offer plastic bottle collection facilities. The level of recycling in the UK has risen by 50 per cent since 2001, with 486 million bottles recycled last year.

Mr Concannon said local authorities in Ireland could adopt the UK position where they collect waste plastic that JFC will convert into pipes that the council can re-use for roads, housing and other drainage purposes.

JFC, which among other things, produces the plastic bottle banks for the Rehab group, is confident that the recycling of plastic has huge potential in the short-term.

It points to the British Waste Recourses Action Plan (WRAP), which says the recycling rate for plastic bottles in Britain and Ireland is relatively low compared to other European countries.