Four investors have put in a total of 5.1 million in finance for the expansion including an EU-backed investment fund. Around 1.25 million has been provided by the Finance Yorkshire Equity Fund, a finance scheme for small and medium sized businesses backed by money from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.
The expansion at the Sterecycle plant comes after the temporary closure of the site in January 2011, following an explosion which caused the death of an employee (see letsrecycle.com story). The plant reopened in April 2011 but Sterecycle is still awaiting the results of an investigation into the incident by the Health and Safety Executive.
Sterecycle is the first waste project Finance Yorkshire has invested in, and it cited the companys environmental application of technology and the potential jobs it could create as key reasons for the investment. Sterecycle described the Finance Yorkshire involvement as instrumental in securing other funds.
Finance Yorkshire investment director Ash Chopra said: The desire to find alternatives to simply sending waste to landfill is high on the political and environmental agendas. Landfilling waste is not a viable long-term option with regulatory driven penalties pushing the cost of landfill up. The technology in use at the company provides a viable greener alternative to landfill.
We are delighted with this investment as a further 17 full time jobs will be created and the company has raised an additional 3.85 million as other investors followed our lead.
Other investment has been secured from a number of investors including Impax Environmental, Fidelity International, Aston Hill Financial, and German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst.
Plant
The Rotherham plant currently operates using two 50,000 capacity autoclave machines which heat household and business waste, recovering recyclable materials and turning food and paper waste into a soil-like by-product, which can be used as a growing media or to generate power in combined heat and power plants.
The expansion plans, announced in September (see letsrecycle.com story) will see a larger 75,000-capacity autoclave installed which will run alongside the existing facility, which will become operational next year. Sterecycle is seeking investment to fund a further expansion of the facility to enable it to handle 225,000 tonnes of waste per year, which it hopes to complete in 2013.
The Rotheram plant is currently running close to capacity, handling a range of local authority and business waste, and the company said that contracts are already in place that will fill the increased capacity.
Sterecycle chief executive Tom Shields said: Were very pleased to have two new backers on board and for the ongoing support of our existing investors. This added capacity will take us to around break-even for the Group as a whole and increase landfill diversion.
Following that well focus on securing finance for a second new autoclave and finishing the expansion works at Rotherham. We hope to do this in early 2013- well then be able to process more than 200,000 tonnes of waste per annum. Our contracts with five of the local authorities in the South Yorkshire region together with commercial and trade waste sources will supply us with enough waste to fill this capacity.
Subscribe for free