MORE than a hundred jobs are under threat as a recycling company faces administration.

Greenlight Environmental, which provides recycling services to West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde and Argyll and Bute councils, announced its intention to go into voluntary administration, according to the GMB Scotland union.

More than 80 of the 109 employees are understood to be based in West Dunbartonshire.

The company has been requested to pay a tax bill to HMRC valued at £300,000.

A petition in support of the workers has gained nearly 600 signatures.

Robert Friel, from Clydebank, who has been working as a driver for the firm for the past year, told the Post there has been little information to staff.

He said: “We were told at a meeting last week that they are looking at going into administration and that it’ll be clearer what’s happening at the end of this week – if progress has been made or if they are going under.

“It was in a way out of the blue, but in the year I have been working here they have been running on a shoestring, so I saw something coming, but not exactly this.

“When it was announced there was shock and a wee bit of anger, but morale is quite high amongst the boys considering.

“They are a good bunch of boys to work with. You just deal with things with dark humour.”

He added: “The initial reaction was shock with the boys, but as I said we’ll know more what the outcome is at the end of this week.

“We are playing it by ear just now because at the end of the day we are still getting on with the job.”

GMB Scotland, the union for refuse and recycling workers, has called on all three council’s leaders to urgently intervene to secure local employment and ensure the social enterprise continues.

Hazel Nolan, a GMB organiser, said: “Many of their staff have been recruited through schemes to assist the long-term unemployed and there are right now serious questions to answer as to how we got to a situation whereby these vulnerable workers are being issued with redundancy notices.

“The council leaders must now explore every option available to them including bringing these workers in-house as direct council employees.”

Greenlight’s work in the area includes recycling, the management of civic amenity sites and the care of garden scheme.

A West Dunbartonshire Council spokeswoman told the Post they have increased their spending with the company over the last three years to £1.4million.

Councillor David McBride has submitted a motion to the infrastructure, regeneration and economic development (IRED) committee next week calling on the council leaders to find a solution that protects jobs and services

In response, Council leader Jonathan McColl said he is in the process of working towards the outcome called for.

He said: “I’ve have had multiple contacts with GMB and we are continuing to watch the situation closely. Discussions on all options, including taking the staff in-house, are ongoing with other councils and we will do everything we can to help the staff, who have been badly let down by those responsible for the company’s finances.

“For now the team are focused on getting the best possible outcome for staff and service users.”