A north-east organic recycling firm has extended its contract with a French multinational waste company in a deal expected to be worth £4million.
Keenan Recycling will continue work with Suez Environnement, which handles waste for Aberdeen City Council, for another four years with the option to extend by one year.
The New Deer-based company, which processes food and garden waste into compost, is a subcontractor of Suez Environnement, which won a 25-year deal from the city in 2000 to manage recycling, composting, treatment and disposal of household waste.
Since the introduction of new waste regulations in Scotland last year, Keenan Recycling said it has seen its client list triple from 600 to 1,800 and now processes more than 60,000 tonnes of waste at its site on the outskirts of New Deer in Aberdeenshire.
As part of the contract, the recycling firm will process around 13,700 tonnes of kitchen and garden waste from household collections and 2,500 tonnes of garden waste per year from the five household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) that Suez Environnement operates on behalf of the city.
Suez Environnement, which was spun out of the merger of Suez and Gaz de France in 2008, is currently working with the council to devise new initiatives to meet the requirements raised by the Scottish Zero Waste Plan, which include recycling targets of 70% by 2025. These initiatives will include the development of new waste transfer stations and recycling facilities.
Mel Keenan, chairman of Keenan Recycling, said: “2015 has seen continued growth as more and more people start to follow the Waste (Scotland) recycling regulations and our client list has tripled since they came into force in 2014.”
Suez Environnement Operations Manager, Colin Forshaw, said: “Turning organic waste collected within Aberdeen into a compost which can be used for agriculture or horticulture is a critical part of our client’s aim to meet their waste strategy.
“Suez Environnement is currently working with the council to create a more sustainable waste management, including the development of modern and efficient facilities at Altens East, which will increase recycling and recovery, and divert almost all of the city’s waste from landfill.
“We have worked with Keenan Recycling for over 10 years and this agreement represents our continued commitment to managing Aberdeen’s resources in a more sustainable way.”