FDBusiness.com

ABP Food Group’s Renewables Division, Olleco, has announced the acquisition of an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility at Westcott Park, Buckinghamshire in England from Renewi plc, a leading waste-to-product business, for an undisclosed sum. The facility has capacity to process 96,000 tonnes of food waste each year and produce up to 3.2 Mw of green electricity and 4.8Mw of renewable heat enough to power 6,000 homes. Westcott Park will be Olleco’s third AD facility in addition to its sites at Aylesbury and Liverpool.

Olleco collects waste food and cooking oil from the retail and food service sector and converts this waste into bio diesel, bio gas and bio fertiliser. The company employs over 600 people in 15 locations across the UK.

Robert Behan, Managing Director of Olleco, comments: “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.”

ABP Food Group is recognised as an industry leader when it comes to sustainable practices and environmental initiatives. In 2015 the company opened the world’s first certified carbon neutral abattoir in Ellesmere where waste material from the food processing operation is used in conjunction with used cooking oil to provide the energy requirements on site. Last year, ABP became the first food company to achieve quadruple accreditation from The Carbon Trust in recognition to the work it was doing in reducing its environmental impact across the supply chain.