The case of a 91-tonne recycling plant's disappearance from a Wigan storage yard goes to the High Court

And if Waste Technologies UK can’t retrieve the 91-tonnes’ worth of components that have gone missing, its bosses hope a judge will order that their value and/or damages be paid out to them instead.

It is making a claim for breach of contract or bailment for David Brown and/or his business Store 24 Seven Northwest Ltd’s “failure to keep safe and/or deliver up a pyrolytic recycling plant, with an alternative claim against Mr Brown for inducing Store 24’s breach of contract.”

Waste Technologies says it had arranged in early 2019 for the revolutionary technology - that converts plastic into mixed oils and has several unique features which would be of interest to industry rivals – to be stored at a facility on Miry Lane, although subsequent reports suggested it may have gone to a yard on Wallgate instead.

The idea was that it would be kept there for an indeterminate period until a suitable site could be found for it to be reassambled and put to use.

The plant was dismantled at the time; its owner says that around 95 per cent of its parts were left to be stored in Wigan and that these components would require almost a dozen lorries with trailers to move.

But Mr Brown, of Llandegla, Denbighshire in Wales, disputes that the bulk of the plant was entrusted to his business, saying that only a “couple of lorryloads” were left with Store 24 Seven.

It is claimed that a UK-based director of Waste Technologies was asked to take pictures of the machinery that could be shown to investors who were interested in it.

But when he went down to Miry Lane, he could not get in. His recollection from a previous visit was that the plant parts were highly visible, even if dismantled, but now they were nowhere to be seen.

It is alleged that Mr Brown and/or Store 24 Northwest Limited had moved the plant from where it was being stored without any explanation, despite requests for an explanation as to its whereabouts.

Thomas Spencer from the litigation and dispute resolution team of Mackrell Solicitors which is representing Waste Technologies, said: “Our client’s position is that this is a unique pyrolytic plant which sets it apart from others of its type, and this makes it particularly valuable.”

Waste Technologies say it is worth £5.3m although ultimately it will require an independent expert to estimate its value during the proceedings in the High Court, King’s Bench Division.

There is due to be a preliminary hearing in London around the end of April or the beginning of May, after which it is thought the case may be transferred to Manchester, although it could be anything up to two years before the trial takes place before a High Court judge.

It was first reported publicly that the plant had disappeared in the summer of 2021. Waste Technologies later issued a £10,000 in its quest to find it, but the money remains unclaimed.