Industry

Business in Brief - 16/10/20

Enva ranked among UK’s top private companies

Waste management, recycling and resource recovery company Enva has ranked 85th in this year’s Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 league table, which ranks the UK’s mid-market private companies with the biggest sales.

The company was recognised as having responded positively to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As well as tailoring its services and adapting its supply chain to meet the demands of customers throughout the crisis, such as implementing a specialist service to manage COVID waste such as masks, Enva also reportedly supported the wider community by donating 24,000 bottles of sanitising products to nursing homes.

Among the other private companies that responded well to the pandemic were baking firm Warburton’s, which donated 20,000 items a week to food charities and fitness clothing retailer Gymshark, which raised over £200,000 for women and children’s hospitals in Birmingham.

Enva enjoyed a sales revenue of £227.3 million last year, equating to a 23 per cent rise from 2018.

Commenting on Enva’s listing, CEO Tom Walsh said: “Our recognition in this year’s Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 is testament to the effort of our whole team. It also reflects the support we have received from customers and suppliers through these most challenging of times. Despite the economic headwind we look forward to continuing our growth and hopefully climbing the table again in 2021.”


Proposed new biomass plant in Yorkshire

Family-run waste firm Allium Energy has announced a proposal to use organic wastes to fuel a heat and power plant in northern Yorkshire.

The firm has applied to build a 42-metre by 25-metre building at Alne Electricity Generating Plant, near Easingwold, for generating and exporting up to one megawatt of electricity and five megawatts of renewable heat.

Run by FD Todd and Sons, Allium Energy provides a closed loop recycling scheme for organic waste. This includes composting, agronomy, energy crops and green energy.

The proposed site was previously used for landfill and what used to be the York Recycling materials recovery facility.

North of the site holds the Alne Renewable Energy Facility that uses a gas engine and biomass boiler that has the capacity to create up to five megawatts of energy.

Also in the nearby area is the site that Forest Poultry has recently been granted planning permission to build agricultural buildings for poultry production.

A representative from Alne Parish Council toured the desired site and remarked that ‘it was clear that there is no intention to burn poultry litter at the plant’, which has led the Council to agree to the proposal on the condition this would be the case.


Enva wins waste and recycling contract with Lookers

Motor vehicle retailer Lookers has announced the extension of its waste and recycling contract with Enva for a further two years.

The agreement, which will extend the two parties’ 12-year relationship, will see Enva manage the waste and recycling from over 125 Lookers sites across the UK, including 1.4 million litres of waste oil, metal, batteries, spray gun cleaner, interceptors and hazardous and general waste from workshop and sales operations.

Enva will continue to play an important role in helping Lookers meet its environmental aspirations. The partnership will continue to roll out new innovations over the next term in order to increase efficiency and reduce Looker’s environmental impact, following the success of previous changes, such as the use of a single vehicle to collect the core hazardous waste streams, which reduced vehicle journeys, pollution and disruption to operations.

Commenting on the new agreement, Trevor Lawlor, National Sales Director at Enva, said: “Lookers’ decision to extend Enva’s relationship with the Group is testament to the outstanding relationship we have developed over our time working together. 

“It is a genuine partnership with both companies fully committed to market leading levels of sustainability underpinned by a detailed focus on service levels and operational efficiency. We were delighted with the end result of the evaluation process and look forward to the next term.”

The new agreement with Lookers follows the recent announcement of Enva’s partnership with car dealerships Guy Salmon Jaguar Land Rover in North London and Steven Eagell Toyota.
Liverpool City Council to develop net zero roadmap

Liverpool City Council (LCC) will be joining forces with Eunomia, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) and independent researchers Sarah Toy and Jess Read to create a detailed plan on how the city will go about reaching its net zero carbon emissions target by 2030.

The council and its new partners will be taking a wide look at what can be done to abolish carbon emissions. This will include research in areas such as waste, business, housing and natural resources, as well as exploring how to build a green economy to allow the city to make a green recovery from Covid-19.

This follows 277 Local Authorities, including Liverpool City, declaring a climate emergency last year. The city has already introduced an air quality plan that promotes cycling, walking and new hydrogen buses.

Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability at LCC, said: “Our commitment to carbon reduction is a crucial part of the council's work supporting our natural environment and improving biodiversity, improving air quality and active transport, and making Liverpool's buildings more energy efficient."

Alex Massie, Climate and Ecological Emergency lead at Eunomia, who is directing the project, said: “At a time of economic challenge due to Covid-19, net zero action provides an opportunity to reshape and regrow the local economy.

“There are also opportunities to build upon the increased interconnectedness of local communities to take forward actions. We will be working with the council to make the most of these opportunities, ensuring they are at the heart of the plan.”


DS Smith targets 30 per cent reduction of carbon emissions by 2030

Packaging company DS Smith has announced its latest partnership with World Kinect Energy Services to work on managing energy consumption on DS Smith sites in 26 European countries.

This comes as part of DS Smith’s long-term aim of decreasing carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 and follows the launch of the company’s ‘Now and Next’ sustainability strategy.

The partnership will involve looking at reducing risks and maximising energy data with price risk management systems, including market intelligence, regulatory reporting, and cost and consumption reporting.

Gerald Maunz, Procurement Director for Energy at DS Smith, commented: “We were impressed with the professionalism, price risk management skills and reporting capabilities that the energy experts and portfolio management team at World Kinect Energy Services demonstrated.”

Terry Cogan, Vice President at World Kinect Energy Services added: “All our customers have differing requirements, whether it’s specific financial or reporting processes, or sustainability and carbon reduction targets and it is our priority to ensure those needs are met.

“We are looking forward to working with the team at DS Smith over the next three years to help them maximise their energy data and exploit it to manage and minimize risks in what is a complex and volatile market.”

DS Smith managed to reduce its carbon emissions by 11 per cent between 2015 and 2019.