Viridor

Viridor is one of the major waste companies in the UK. Having once had a diversified protfolio of landfill, MRFs and EfW facilities it is now focused on 12 EfW facilites in the UK and a 'plastics to fuel business' referred to by them as their 'Circular Solutions Business' based out of 4 sites in Scandinavia[1].

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History

  • Pennon emerged from the privatisation of the utility elements of the South West Water Authority in 1989. Pennon acquired Haul Waste Ltd in 1993 from English China Clay and Blue Circle Waste Management in 1995, merging it and Haul Waste Ltd under its new name, Viridor, in 1998.
  • Viridor acquired many other waste management and recycling companies through the late 1990's and early 2000's, including: Churngold in 2003, Wyvern Waste Services Limited in 2006, Thames Waste Management in 2004, Enviroscot Ltd, Brett Waste Management and Terry Adams Ltd.
  • The sale of Viridor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) by Pennon was announced in March 2020 for £4.2bn[2] and completed in July 2020[3]. Since this acquisition large parts of the business have been divested.
  • In May 2021 Viridor announced the sale of their collections business and their recycling locations (excluding Crayfords Materials Recycling Facility and Pelican Reach (Plot L)) to Biffa which was completed in September 2021[5]
  • In June 2021 Viridor announced the sale of their glass recycling businesses at Newhouse, Sheffield and Peterboroigh to Sibelco[6]
  • In December 2021 Equitix acquired a 20% stake in Viridor Energy, comprising 11 assets of the original Viridor business (10 EfW sites and 1 PERF)[6]. In December 2023 this was increased to a 35% stake[7]. In late 2025 this was extended further with a path to acquire 50% of the business[8].
  • In January 2022 Viridor announced the sale of their Crayford MRF to N+P Group[9].
  • In March 2022 Viridor completed the sale of their Landfill and Landfill Gas business, in its entirety, to Frank Solutions Ltd[10] re-branded Valencia Waste Management[11].
  • In February 2023 Viridor announced the acquisition of Quantafuel ASA[12], a business focused on converting waste plastics to raw polymers for use in the chemicals industry for new plastics and for fuel (see Chemical Recycling of Plastics).
  • In August 2025 Viridor announced the sale of the plasitcs sorting equipment in Rochester, having closed the site, as well as closing the Avonmouth plastics site, as a result of its strategic review in November 2024 to exit the mechanical recycling of plastics[14].
  • In April 2026 Viridor annnounced the fiancial close of the Thameside EfW project[15].

Viridor Entities Listed on WikiWaste

  • Viridor Ltd
  • Viridor Waste Management Ltd
  • Viridor Waste (Somerset) Ltd (previously Wyvern Waste Services Limited)
  • Viridor Peterborough Ltd
  • Viridor Waste (Greater Manchester) Ltd now part of two contracts awarded in May 2019 [13] to Suez with a large proportion of the residual waste still being sent to Viridor's Runcorn EfW facility
  • Viridor Waste (Kent) Ltd (previously Brett Waste Management)
  • Viridor Waste Suffolk Ltd
  • Viridor Waste (Thames) Ltd previously Thames Waste Management
  • Lakeside Energy From Waste Ltd joint venture with Grundon
  • Viridor Enviroscot Limited previously Enviroscot Ltd

Viridor EfW Sites Listed on WikiWaste

References:

  1. Viridor Website
  2. Pennon Website Article Mar 2020
  3. Resource Media Article Jul 2020
  4. Viridor News Item (no longer available on line)
  5. Biffa New Article Sep 2021
  6. Letsrecycle Article Jun 2021
  7. Equitix Website Article Dec 2023
  8. Equitix Website Article Dec 2025
  9. Resource Media Article Jan 2022
  10. Letsrecycle Article Apr 2022
  11. Letsrecycle Article Apr 2022
  12. Viridor Article Feb 2023
  13. Letsrecycle Article May 2019
  14. Viridor News Article Aug 2025
  15. Viridor News Article Apr 2026