Biffa has completed its acquisition of Aberdeenshire's Keenan Recycling, a commercial food waste collections provider operating across England, Scotland and Wales.
Keenan Recycling was established in 2003 in New Deer and provides food waste collection services for businesses, waste management companies and councils, as well as operating a composting and biofuel facility in Aberdeen.
Biffa said the acquisition improves the group’s capabilities in food waste collection services ahead of the implementation of the forthcoming Simpler Recycling legislation.
The legislation mandates the separation of dry recyclables into designated containers as well as the separate collection of food waste. Simpler Recycling will take effect for most businesses across England from March 2025, households from March 2026 and micro businesses from March 2027.
Keenan Recycling collects around 56,000 tonnes of food waste each year from across 21 nation-wide depots. The company operates a fleet of 80 state of the art collection vehicles made up of diesel and HVO and uses industry leading route optimisation software and bin weighing capabilities to minimise its carbon emissions.
Maxine Mayhew, Chief Operating Officer, Biffa Collections and Specialist Services, said: “Keenan Recycling has built an outstanding reputation as a leader in commercial food waste collections, and we’re delighted to be welcoming the expertise of 140 colleagues into the Biffa family.
“By integrating Keenan Recycling’s offering with our wider infrastructure and resources, we see tremendous potential to enhance our ability to meet the requirements of Simpler Recycling legislation mandating separate food waste collection.”
Grant Keenan, Managing Director at Keenan Recycling, said: “We’re extremely proud of the remarkable growth we’ve achieved over the past 20 years, evolving from a small, independent operation into one of the UK’s leading organics recycling and food waste collections businesses. We’d like to thank BGF who backed us to grow the business and have supported us with both investment and advice over the last 9 years."
BGF has seen a return of £8.4million on its £3.5million investment in the company in 2015 which it supported as it scaled from a single depot to 17 across the UK.
Investor Richard Pugh led the original investment for BGF and joined the company’s board, supporting chief executive Grant Keenan and the management team for the duration of the partnership.
He said: “We’ve enjoyed working with Grant and the team over the last nine years, during which we have seen how impactful a committed entrepreneur can be with the right investment and long-term, supportive partner. As a Scottish company that is now a leader in its field right across the UK, this represents another success for one of Scotland’s many strong family businesses."