Keenan Recycling
19 November 2018
Scottish recycling firm set to bring a greener future and new jobs as it expands south
Scotland’s largest organic waste management firm, Keenan Recycling, is expanding across the UK rolling out its award-winning service into the North East of England.
Creating a greener future for businesses and residents in the region, the firm, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, will create up to 40 new jobs over the next two years in roles including sales, account management and fleet drivers.
With its roots originally in the garden composting business since 2001, Keenan Recycling launched its own commercial food waste collection service in Scotland in 2010. The company now processes more than 150,000 tonnes of organic waste a year, turning it into compost and electricity.
Expanding its food waste collection service south of the border, the firm will work with local businesses and other waste management firms in the region to collect food waste. It will be transported to High Hedley Biogas Plant in County Durham where it will be put through an anaerobic digester and recycled into electricity.
As well as making businesses more aware about the cost of wasting food, the process prevents waste going to landfill and cuts back on harmful greenhouse gas emissions, so has huge environmental benefits.
Food waste is currently high on the list of current concerns for producers, farmers and supermarkets. This year, the use of food banks in the UK reached the highest rate on record* meaning it couldn’t be any more important to consider the impact of unnecessarily wasting food.
By monitoring food disposal, businesses can ensure that edible waste isn’t thrown away and anything inedible can be recycled via Keenan and used to create green energy.
Grant Keenan, managing director at Keenan Recycling, explained that it was a natural geographical progression to move into England as the company already operates in the borders of Scotland.
He said: “We’re very excited to expand our food waste management service to England and we’re looking forward to working with businesses south of the border who are conscious about creating a greener environment.
“Although it is a legal requirement in Scotland, recycling food waste in England is a concept that many will not be familiar with, but we hope that we can encourage individuals to really think about the food they throw away, rather than it going to landfill.”
Headquartered in Aberdeen, Keenan Recycling currently employs more than 90 people across a range of roles in the head office and bases in Edinburgh and Fife, as well as across the company’s two large recycling facilities, a 14-acre site in New Deer, Aberdeenshire and a site in Cumbernauld.
The firm currently has an £8.5 million turnover, which it aims to grow up to £40 million in the next five years.
For more information on Keenan Recycling, please visit www.keenanrecycling.co.uk.
* According to the Independent, 2018 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-bank-uk-benefits-trussell-trust-cost-of-living-highest-rate-a8317001.html