CF Booth Enters Administration, 200 Jobs at Risk in UK Metal Recycling Collapse

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Hundreds of jobs are at risk after historic UK metal recycling firm CF Booth Ltd entered administration, marking the latest high-profile casualty amid challenging market conditions. The Rotherham-based company filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Friday, with around 200 roles potentially affected. James Ronald Alexander Lumb and Howard Smith of Interpath Advisory have been named as joint administrators, according to a notice published in The London Gazette.

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The development has prompted an outpouring of reaction on social media, with former customers and workers expressing sadness at the news. Several commentators pointed to volatile scrap demand and sharply rising operating costs across the UK metals sector as contributing factors, describing the closure as another sign of the strain facing recyclers.

The collapse follows the recent death of director and owner Ken Booth, ending more than a century of family involvement in one of Britain’s best-known metal recycling businesses. Founded in the 1920s, CF Booth grew from a small local trader into one of Europe’s largest independently owned recyclers, employing generations of families from Rotherham.

The company specialised in processing steel, copper and aluminium for UK manufacturing and recycling markets. Its Clarence Metal Works site has long been a cornerstone of the town’s industrial landscape and a major local employer.