Recycling and waste figures feature in Britain&#39s wealthiest

Signifying the value that lies within recycling and waste, the newspaper's 19th annual list of Britain's 1,000 wealthiest features individuals from the metal recycling sector, the waste management sector as well as those whose empires include recycling or waste activities.

The list is drawn from estimated and identifiable wealth including land, property and other assets as well as shares and details from company accounts, but it does not include bank accounts, which are confidential.

This year, you&#39d; need 70 million to make the list.

Scrap Metal
Phillip Sheppard and family: the owners of Liverpool-based scrap metal firm European Metal Recycling (EMR) were the eighth biggest fallers in the Rich List this year. The Sunday Times claimed that a 200 million profits fall saw the Sheppards dropping from 66th position last year to 118th in this year's Rich List. It also notes that EMR last year acquired Southern Recycling for $161.4m, giving it a “toehold” in America, and valued the company “conservatively” at 620m. Last year saw the company named as the 25th biggest privately-owned company in the country by the Sunday Times KPMG Top Track 100 list.

Garry Widdowson: sold Metal & Waste Recycling to Barclays last year, the newspaper notes, for more than 100m. He still holds a 22% stake in the Essex-based company, however, and has diversified into property to put him up from 609th position in the Rich List last year with a 155m fortune.

John Harry and family: the owners of S Norton, the scrap metal firm operating out of Liverpool and Manchester, which now processes more than one million tonnes of scrap each year, the Sunday Times notes. The family has moved up from 944th place in the Rich List last year with a 100m total.

Waste Management
Norman Grundon and family – Making a new entry into the Rich List, Grundon Waste Management is now worth about 110m according to the Sunday Times. Founded by Stephen Grundon as an aggregates supplied, it notes that the Slough-based company is now run by 65-year-old Norman Grundon with interests ranging from “quarries to recycling”.

Richard Biffa – Remaining a shareholder of Shanks Group, the 67-year-old has retired from the waste company's board. The Sunday Times says that Mr Biffa bought out the Rechem hazardous waste company for 1.8 million in 1988, agreeing a 171 million takeover by Shanks in 1991. His family's Biffa waste disposal company was sold to BET plc in 1971 before becoming part of water company Severn Trent in 1991, and spinning off as an independent plc last year. Mr Biffa moves down the Rich List from 633rd last year.

Terry Adams: Now farming in Devon, the 67-year-old made about 70m selling his landfill company – Terry Adams Ltd – in 1997 to South West Water just prior to that company's waste division being renamed Viridor. Mr Adams moves down from 798th in the Rich List.

Robert Hill: Making a new entry in the Rich List, the 67-year-old runs his family's company, Hills Group, which is based in Marlborough and includes the waste management side which recently won the long-term Wiltshire county council disposal contract, as well as a construction division. The Sunday Times suggests the company is “easily worth 65m”.

Interests that include recycling
Sean Quinn and family: Quinn Group built itself up from its roots as a quarrying and cement company, and has recently moved into glass making, building a glass plant in Cheshire that recycles glass back into new containers. Most of the Quinn fortune has come from property and insurance, however, with stakes in the Anglo Irish bank helping the family move up from 18th to 12th in this year's Rich List with a 3.05 billion fortune.

Michael Cornish and Family: Chairman of packaging firm Linpac, which includes a materials handling, street furniture and recycling container activities, Mr Cornish sold a 700m stake in the company in 2003, retaining a 140m stake, but moves down from 83rd in the list last year with an estimated 717m total.