Sterecycle strikes gold with waste

The company plans to double the Rotherham site's capacity from 100,000 to 200,000 tonnes per year by the end of 2010, taking household rubbish from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils as well as commercial waste.

The increased capacity is equivalent to the rubbish produced by 400,000 people.

The number of staff at the plant, built at a former British Steel site in 2008, will also increase from 37 to 57.

The latest round of private equity funding, which came from institutional and retail investors as well as the company's existing investors, brings total equity funds raised to 34m since the company was founded in 2003, including investment from Goldman Sachs and Fidelity International.

Some of the proceeds will be used to develop Sterecycle's second site in Cardiff, which received planning permission last year and is expected to be completed in 2011, creating 60 new jobs.

A facility in South London is expected to be operational in 2012 and another is planned for Glasgow.

Duncan Grierson, who found-ed Sterecycle, said: "This latest round confirms that, despite the challenging economic environment, there is considerable interest in waste treatment technology. Our proven process, now operating at commercial scale for over 18 months, is ripe for rolling out around the UK."

The company, which is expecting to report an annual turnover of 7m at the end of March, plans to build further plants over the next few years, including a new bio-plant and an anaerobic digestion plant at the Rotherham site, which will be used to generate heat and electricity.

By 2013 the company plans to employ over 300 staff at six plants.

The Rotherham plant is believed to be one of the first commercial-scale facilities that applies steam to separate and recycle unsorted household waste.

Sterecycle recycles about 70 per cent of household waste, which is used as land remediation material. It pioneered the use of autoclaving, which was previously used for sterilising small batches of medical waste, on an industrial scale and for recycling municipal solid waste. In addition, it uses its own patented energy-efficient autoclaving system.

Tom Shields, the company's new chief executive, has been appointed to lead the expansion programme, taking over from Mr Grierson.

He has over 30 years' experience in the chemicals sector and was previously managing director of KemFine UK, a specialty chemicals business with 45m of turnover and 262 staff. He said: "I am delighted to join Sterecycle at this exciting time and help take the business forward to a multi-site operation."

He added: "Yorkshire is the focal site for the company and we have a lot planned for the next few years. The waste recycling sector is very strong as we move away from landfill."

Mr Grierson, a former private equity investor, added: "The UK waste sector is becoming a sophisticated process engineering industry, akin to the chemicals sector which is also highly regulated and with heavy capital investment requirements, so Tom's experience is ideally suited to helping us manage the company's growth."