Shanks completes financing for resource recovery facility

The U.K.-based waste management firm Shanks Group plc has agreed to funding terms to allow it, along with its joint venture partner Interserve Group plc, to build and operate a waste treatment facility that will serve residents in Derby City and Derbyshire, U.K. The facility is expected to be completed by April 2017.

Under terms signed by the parties, the companies will handle the resource recovery operations under a 27-year, £950 million (US$1.557 billion) Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract. The program will be operated by Resource Recovery Solutions Ltd. (RRS), a joint venture between Shanks and Interserve, a U.K.-based construction firm.

RRS has been providing waste management services to residents of Derby and Derbyshire since 2010. Following the funding completion, Interserve will commence construction of a £145 million Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility and an on-site gasification plant in Sinfin, South Derby, which Shanks will operate alongside Derby’s existing waste management facilities.

The new facility is expected to divert up to 98 percent of the residents’ residual waste from landfill, while also generating enough green electricity to power about 14,000 homes.

Non-recourse debt funding of up to £195 million is being raised by RRS through the UK Green Investment Bank, BayernLB and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Adrian Ringrose, CEO of Interserve plc, says, “This facility will help both councils significantly increase their recycling rates, reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill sites and boost Derbyshire’s local economy.”