Encyclis acquires full ownership of Rookery South EfW

The acquisition completes Encyclis’ full ownership of all four of its Energy-from-Waste facilities in its core fleet in central England.

In 2025, Encyclis acquired the remaining shares in Newhurst ERF in Leicestershire and Protos ERF in Cheshire from Biffa, while Walsall ERF in the West Midlands is wholly owned by Encyclis and is currently under construction.

The company said full ownership of the four facilities will allow it to operate them as a “single integrated fleet”, sharing engineering and operational expertise across the sites.

It said the fleet will also allow metals and secondary aggregates to be recovered through its Wellingborough bottom ash processing plant.

Mark Burrows-Smith, CEO of Encyclis, commented: “By taking full ownership of Rookery South ERF, we are consolidating our position as a leading pure-play Energy-from-Waste business in the UK Midlands.

“With Rookery South, Newhurst, Protos and Walsall all wholly owned by Encyclis, we have an integrated fleet, which gives us significant advantages in operational optimisation and allows us to offer waste suppliers a more flexible and resilient service – in a region that generates around 10 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste every year.”

Rookery South ERF

Rookery South ERF, near Bedford, processes approximately 600,000 tonnes of residual every year via Energy from Waste (EfW).

60% of the waste it processes comes from households, with the remaining 40% coming from commercial sources.

In December 2025, the site was granted planning permission to install carbon capture technology.

The installation of the technology would allow for the capture of CO2 from the EfW process to be transported for storage.

The site is the second in Encyclis’ fleet to launch a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, following its sister site Protos in Cheshire.

The facility began commercial operations in January 2022, with Encyclis as majority owner and operator and Veolia as its main waste supplier.

Following the acquisition, Veolia will retain its role as the facility’s principal waste supplier.

Burrows-Smith added: “We thank Veolia for its partnership in developing and operating Rookery South and look forward to continuing to work together.”