Howie seals £23 million deal for recycling firm

Mar 26 2008

Shore Recycling bought by Pennon

A recycling firm involved in the handling of fridges and other electrical items has been bought over in a deal worth £23 million.

Shore Recycling was originally set up by butcher entrepreneur Simon Howie six years ago.

Now Pennon has splashed out on the business to bolster its waste management arm Viridor.

Perth based Shore also has facilities in Manchester and St Helens.

Pennon said the UK's recent implementation of the European Union's waste electrical and electronic equipment directive meant this area of recycling was expected to grow quickly.

Viridor chief executive Colin Drummond said: "The UK's waste strategy demands ever increasing levels of recycling, particularly now in the area of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

"Shore has an excellent track record in leading the way in this market in the north of the UK and is well placed to capitalise on this opportunity."

Former message boy Howie started his first butcher’s shop in 1986 when he was just 19 and grew the business dramatically by supplying meat to Sainsburys in the 1990s.

Dubbed The Haggis King Howie now has a major processing plant in Auchterarder.

In addition to his butchery group Howie has invested in a number of ventures including the Shore Laminates business he founded in Perth in 1991, after failing to find a suitable supplier of foodsafe panels for his butcher's shop.

Howie launched Shore Recycling in 2002 after legislation banning fridges from being taken to landfill sites presented a potential business opportunity. The company secured contracts with a large number of Scottish local authorities and has now recycled more than one million fridges at its Perth site.

Shore's workload has also been boosted by the EU directive limiting the amount of electrical waste going to final disposal. This includes IT equipment, lighting and large household appliances.

Howie sold it to a management buyout team in 2004 for £19m though he kept a stake in the company. Last month it acquired Lancashire based M Baker Recycling in a multi million deal as it continued to expand.

Viridor operates 25 regional landfill sites, a number of regional recycling facilities and 189 waste processing sites.