Viridor is one of the major waste and recycling companies in the UK, working with more than 150 Local Authority and corporate clients, with over 3,000 staff working from over 300 facilities spanning recycling, energy recovery and landfill[1].

Viridor logo from website
Viridor logo from website

History

Pennon emerged from the privatisation of the utility elements of the South West Water Authority in 1989. Pennon acquired Haul Waste Ltd in 1993 from English China Clay and Blue Circle Waste Management in 1995, merging it and Haul Waste Ltd under its new name, Viridor, in 1998.

Viridor acquired many other waste management and recycling companies through the late 1990's and early 2000's, including: Churngold in 2003, Wyvern Waste Services Limited in 2006, Thames Waste Management in 2004, Enviroscot Ltd, Brett Waste Management and Terry Adams Ltd.

The sale of Viridor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) by Pennon was announced in March 2020 for £4.2bn[2] and completed in July 2020[3]. Since this acquisition the new owners have divested large parts of the business, in order to leave a focus on their EfW business and associated plastics recycling business[4]. The divestment of the following parts of the business have been concluded:

In February 2023 Viridor announced the acquisition of Quantafuel ASA[10], a business focused on converting waste plastics to raw polymers for use in the chemicals industry for new plastics (see Chemical Recycling of Plastics).

The relative position of the top 5 waste companies, by turnover, is as follows:

Company Turnover (million GBP) Most Recently Reported Note On Source and Date for Most Recently Reported
Veolia 1,719 Veolia Environmental Services (UK) Ltd only, as per financial year report ending December 2021[11]
Biffa 1,364 turnover shown net of landfill tax as per financial year report ending March 2022[12]
FCC 795 as per proportion of Annual Report 2022 by the Group[13]
Suez 765 as per accounts ending December 2022[14]
Viridor 672 as per accounts published for year end March 2023[15]

Viridor Energy Sites on WikiWaste

List of Viridor Engergy Sites

Viridor Entities Listed on WikiWaste

The divestment of the Viridor businesses set out above has not yet been fully consolidated/reflected in the entities set out below. primarily as a result of the changes not yet being fully reflected in the waste return data.


References