Biffa outlines sustainability, recycling investments

U.K.-based waste management firm identifies up to $1.5 billion in potential “green economy” investments.

High Wycombe, United Kingdom-based Biffa plc has published what it calls a long-term sustainability strategy titled “Resourceful, Responsible.”

In the document, the waste management and recycling firm identifies £1.25 billion ($1.5 billion) of investments that can be made during the next 10 years in the U.K.’s “green economy infrastructure, improving U.K. recycling and recovery capability.”

The plan includes what Biffa calls an “ambitious target to reduce emissions by a further 50 percent by 2030,” and additional commitments that are part of a new 10-year sustainability strategy “aligned to the group’s previously outlined investment plans.”

“’Resourceful, Responsible’ fully supports our strategic growth plans and long-term vision, defining the important role Biffa can play in delivering more sustainable solutions to help combat the U.K.’s waste challenge,” says Michael Topham, chief executive of Biffa plc.

Adds Topham, “I am very proud of the great progress that we, and the wider industry, have made in recent years to grow recycling levels and drive significant reduction in CO2 emissions, but we recognize there is much more to do. ‘Resourceful, Responsible’ is an ambitious but deliverable strategy [that] is based on proven technologies and is supported by our previously outlined investment plans. We look forward to reporting on our progress in the coming years as we deliver this plan, and the exciting investment opportunities that it presents to our business.”

The predicted emissions reductions will be achieved “principally through expanding the Group’s low-carbon collection business, quadrupling the Group’s plastic recycling capability and developing energy-from-waste infrastructure, which the U.K. needs to manage its own non-recyclable waste more sustainably,” according to Biffa.

Biffa says it already has begun to “decarbonize” its services, with the company reducing its CO2 emissions by 65 percent since 2002. Biffa says it is targeting a further 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2030, through increased recycling and diversion from landfill and by improving collection route densities.

Medium-term plans also include the phasing out of fossil-fueled collection vehicles as new electric collection vehicle technology comes on stream, and with the installation of solar farms on the group’s closed and restored landfill sites.

Biffa has some 8,000 employees and achieved more than £1 billion ($1.2 billion) in revenue in 2019. It is involved in the collection, treatment, processing and disposal of waste and recovered commodities, including paper, glass, metals and plastic.

A full copy of the “Resourceful, Responsible” Biffa sustainability strategy can be found on this web page.

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