A TEXTILE recycling company which scooped a Queen's industry award a decade ago has made 27 staff redundant.

Bosses at W. H. Tracey say the job losses were necessary to enable the company to cut costs.

The business, in the Paradise Mill in John Street, Bury, buys surplus clothing from hundreds of charity shops. The garments are sorted and 60 per cent are exported to Africa, Pakistan and Eastern Europe. Commenting on the redundancies, which have reduced the workforce to 70, financial director Mr Phil Bradburn said: "We are not giving up on production as we know it, but reshaping the company.

"Unfortunately, our costs couldn't sustain the business in terms of the way it was.

"We are sad that 27 staff have lost their jobs. We're absolutely gutted as they were really good people. Now, we are doing more of a specialised sorting arrangement and are involved in a scaling down of our operations. Regrouping and consolidation are the key words now. We've got to adapt for the future.

"Basically, our costs here were spiralling," added Mr Bradburn, "and we were not able to get any extra value out of our production, hence why we have scaled down our operation." The company was founded by the late Mr William Tracey who, in 1935 started up as a rag and bone man. For many years, the firm's prime market was in the UK. Garments which could not be sold to the UK's furniture and bedding trade were shredded and used for fillers and wipers.

Twenty years ago, W. H. Tracey began exporting recycled clothes and footwear and its export earnings more than doubled between 1995 and 1997. In 1996 the company was awarded a coveted Queen's Award for Export Achievement in recognition of its buoyant overseas trade.