Keenan Recycling started as a garden waste composting business in 2001 and has since grown to become the largest food and garden recycling business in Scotland and now collects waste throughout the UK.
The company reduces the amount of waste going into landfill by collecting and recycling organic material, currently processing more than 100,000 tonnes of organic waste each year. Food waste is turned into premium grade compost or biofuel, which generates electricity at numerous anaerobic digestion plants (ADs) across the UK.
Although diverting food waste from landfill is part of delivering net zero Keenan also recognises that there are emissions associated with the management and treatment of this waste and they can further contribute to net zero by tackling these.
Keen to understand more about how to measure and account for their wider emissions their Environmental Manager joined the NEERSF funded net zero literacy programme for SMEs in September 2021. This involved participating in four half day workshops which guided participating companies through the process of understanding what zero means, how to measure and reduce their carbon footprint and how to develop a net zero strategy.
The Environmental Manager commented: “The programme was really valuable in providing an overview of the issues that need to be considered in moving towards net zero and provided the opportunity to network and learn from other companies in a similar situation.”
The key learnings from the programme were fed back to the board who has since appointed Fergus Healy to drive the strategic development of the business and the journey to net zero. A key aspect of the role will be to focus on the company’s environmental sustainability and to develop a detailed transition plan.
Mr Healy comments: “Client businesses will have significant decarbonisation challenges over the next couple of years and we intent to work tirelessly in order to help them meet their environmental and legislative obligations as a supply chain partner of choice.”