Phone recycling firm's 250 jobs

There are an estimated 100m old mobile phones in the UK

A company which recycles mobile phones is to create 250 new jobs when it relocates its headquarters in Treforest, Pontypridd.

Hong Kong-based Excel is to invest £1m to develop the empty site, which will include a call centre.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council welcomed the news as a major boost for the local economy.

The company plans to recycle more than 100,000 old phones per month and resell them in the Far East from next year.

The move will be to the Treforest industrial estate site of a former furniture factory, which closed two years ago.

Robert Bevan, the council's cabinet member for economic development said: "We were impressed with their vision and ideas and are pleased that they have chosen this vacant site for their operations."

He said that the potential for the recycling market was vast, with more than 100m discarded mobile telephones lying in people's drawers and cupboards or simply thrown away in the UK.

"In an era of much greater concentration on sustainability and recycling where electrical companies are looking to comply with such concerns, this is an innovative and pioneering project in UK terms," he said.