Shanks Wins Food Waste Contract With Buckinghamshire County Council

International waste-to-product business, Shanks Group plc, is pleased to announce that it has won a food waste contract with Buckinghamshire County Council. The contract will begin on 1 February 2016 and will run for the next two years, with scope for three additional one year extensions.

Under the contract, Shanks will manage the treatment of approximately 7,000 tonnes of food waste in the northern part of Buckinghamshire. The waste will be treated at Shanks’ Westcott Park anaerobic digestion (AD) facility near Aylesbury, increasing throughput at the facility and maximising operations. Westcott Park has the capacity to process 48,000 tonnes of food waste each year and export 3 megawatts of green electricity back to the National Grid, enough to power 6,000 homes.

Peter Eglinton, Managing Director of Shanks’ Municipal Division, said:

“We are delighted to win this contract with Buckinghamshire County Council, which adds to our Municipal portfolio by extending our ongoing partnerships with local authorities in the UK. Our solution brings both significant environmental benefit and cost savings to the Council.

By producing green energy and deploying digestate back to land, we are making more from waste and enhancing our position in the market as a leading waste-to-product company.”

The contract with Buckinghamshire County Council is another key milestone for the Westcott Park facility. In April 2015, the site was issued with a Certificate of Compliance and a PAS 110 environmental accreditation, which underpins the quality and value of its products. Westcott Park also benefits from a three year contract to supply digestate from the facility. The digestate product is generally used in the agricultural sector to replace less environmentally-friendly fertilisers and will benefit land across Buckinghamshire and the surrounding areas.