Viridor

History

The company was formed in 1956 as Harrison Western Ltd, later becoming Haul Waste Ltd. Haul Waste became part of Pennon (then South West Water Ltd) in 1993, and grew by purchasing companies in the waste collection and landfill disposal market.

In 1995 it bought Blue Circle Waste Management, bringing about South West Water's name change to Pennon Group in 1998, and the merger of Haul Waste and Blue Circle Waste Management under Viridor. It subsequently acquired part of Churngold's waste business in June 2003, Thames Waste Management in 2004,Somerset LAWDC Wyvern Waste in 2006 Grosvenor Waste Management and Skipaway Holdings in 2007, and Shore Recycling in 2008. Later in 2015 Viridor took over the collection side of Dorset based waste company Commercial Recycling.

Today the business is valued at around £4 billion, with recent acquisitions and growth focused on expanding the company's recycling and energy from waste capacity. Viridor was awarded the Greater Manchester Waste PFI contract, the largest waste and renewable energy contract in the UK.

On 12 August 2010, the company was featured on Channel 4 documentary Undercover Boss, in which Chief Executive Colin Drummond went undercover as a new recruit inside the company.

In March 2020, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts agreed to buy Viridor in £4.2bn deal.The transaction was completed on 8 July 2020.

Viridor Credits

As part of the Landfill Communities Fund tax credit scheme, Viridor created the Viridor Credits scheme which in 2001 to distribute funds to communities for heritage and biodiversity projects. They reported £7.6m in grants in 2017/18.

Sustainable Procurement strategy outlines the following objectives:

Commitment to sustainability issues throughout all business areas

Endorse sustainability principles throughout the supply chain

Monitor and demonstrate onward progression in line with defined sustainability standards and key performance indicators (KPIs)

Ensure sustainable procurement practices are adopted and maintained

Support alignment and consistency with additional CSR and sustainability related initiatives across the Group.

Responsible supply chain

Our large breadth of waste management practices supports the need for a dynamic value adding supply chain. Our supply chain promotes vital relationships that support the day-to-day running of Viridor’s facilities, innovation partnerships and supply resource for long term investment programmes. The supply chain is therefore essential in maintaining the flow of goods and services to all areas across our business.