Credit: Halifax News Net
Ribbons Recycled unable to reopen after closure in May as owners declare bankruptcy.
Halifax News Net reports that Ribbons Recycled Inc.’s premises in Burnside, Nova Scotia, remain abandoned after the company was forced to close in May due to unpaid rent amounting to nearly $40,000 (€30,000).
Ribbons Recycled, which had been in business since 1992 as a remanufacturer of inkjet, dot matrix and laser printer cartridges in the Maritimes, had been having ongoing financial difficulties for some time; filing for a commercial proposal in 2009 with liabilities totalling just under $500,000 (€374,546). This eventually led to the landlords of the company’s site terminating its lease at 81 Wright Avenue, Dundee REIT, leaving a letter on the front door explaining why they had been forced to close the company down.
“What occurred was the landlord shut them out,” said Mark Rosen, Senior Vice President of BDO Canada. “They effectively locked the doors.”
Rosen added that Ribbons Recycled defaulted on the commercial proposal, as expected after the company’s closure. He said that the company “did not have the ability to make arrears” of its debt, noting that “all of the assets were subject to security”.
Don and Frances MacKinnon, the owners of Ribbons Recycled, have also reportedly declared personal bankruptcy; with any final money collected from the company expected to go to Revenue Canada. However, Rosen said: “They had little value. We’re talking about used equipment. The cost to remove that stuff is probably more than it’s worth.”
The closure of Ribbons Recycled left 14 employees unexpectedly out of work, some of whom have reportedly claimed to be complaining to the Labour Board over thousands of dollars of owed wages and vacation and severance pay; although the Labour Board has said that no complaints have been filed yet.