Renewi sells Westcott Park AD facility to Olleco

The international waste-to-product company is selling the loss-making anaerobic digestion (AD) plant as part of a strategy to improve margins and returns. The price of the plant, now Olleco’s third, was not disclosed.

This is Renewi’s second sale this year and follows the company’s assessment of its UK Municipal Division. The company said in early March it was looking to exit agreements with local authorities after reviewing ‘onerous contract provisions’ and projecting future losses.

“The sale of our Westcott Park facility is completely in line with our strategy to actively manage our Municipal portfolio. We are taking decisive action to improve the performance of the Division and this demonstrates we are delivering against that recovery plan. The facility and the team based there will now be part of an operation exclusively focused on the food waste market which will be beneficial for customers and suppliers as well as the people based at the facility. We will now work with Olleco to ensure a seamless transition,” said James Priestley, managing director of Renewi’s Municipal Division.

Renewi noted in that the Westcott Park facility is expected to benefit from the scale of Olleco’s operations. The facility has capacity to process 96,000 tonnes of food waste annually and produce up to 3.2 MW of electricity and 4.8MW of renewable heat, enough to power 6,000 homes. Olleco serves 50,000 customer sites and employs over 600 people across the UK.

Robert Behan, managing director of Olleco, said, “Olleco is delighted to make this acquisition, which will provide added capacity and improve the service we provide to our 50,000 customers across the UK. The move will also complement our existing operations in nearby Aylesbury and in Liverpool.”