A GREENOCK plastics factory is recruiting up to 100 new staff to produce millions of essential items of equipment for NHS workers.

On Wednesday, the Tele revealed that Berry bpi's base in Port Glasgow Road has been rapidly turned into a PPE plant to manufacture disposable aprons for healthcare staff to wear as they tackle coronavirus in IRH and other hospitals across the UK every day.

Berry says it has made a 'substantial investment' in equipment and technology, and has installed specialist machines that will help workers churn out more than one million aprons every week.

To meet production demands, the company has now launched a big recruitment campaign.

Chief executive Andrew Green said the campaign was at an early stage and that demands would become clearer as the work progresses.

He said: "We are recruiting for between 25 and 100 people depending on demand.

"The situation will become clearer in the next few days."

The company hopes to produce around 5.5 million aprons, made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE), in Greenock every month.

The Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, NHS Scotland and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland have helped establish the supply chain for the project.

Berry bpi - which is part of Berry Global - manufactures polythene films and currently produces the majority of clinical waste sacks used in UK hospitals.

The new production operator shift jobs are on initial six-month contracts with a view to extension.

People interested in applying for the posts can forward CVs to the human resources department by email to K.McKeown@rpc-bpi.com.