ABERDEENSHIRE organic waste management firm Keenan Recycling has secured a £2.2 million investment to finance its planned expansion in central Scotland.
The family-owned business, which is based at New Deer, launched its commercial food waste collection service in Aberdeen and the surrounding area in 2010.
It now processes more than 60,000 tonnes of food, garden and other organic waste each year, turning it into British Standards Institute-accredited compost for agricultural and horticultural use.
The funding to accelerate Keenan’s expansion in the central belt is coming from the Business Growth Fund (BGF). The BGF was set up by the UK Government, with financial backing from the major banks, with the aim of helping fast-growing small and medium-sized businesses through the provision of long-term equity finance.
Keenan opened a base at Linlithgow last month, and has invested £700,000 in a fleet of six lorries to roll out its organic waste collection service to customers in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The firm is already collecting food waste from more than 600 clients in the central belt, and says it is on track to reach 1,000 businesses within the coming month.
Commenting on overall customer numbers, managing director Grant Keenan said: “We’ve seen our number of clients more than triple from 600 to in excess of 2,000 since the Scottish Government introduced its waste regulations in January 2014, which means that all local councils have to collect food waste and all businesses that produce more than 50kg a week can’t send their leftover food to landfill sites.
“This investment from BGF will allow us to speed up our expansion in the central belt.”
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