Keenan Recycling secures £2.2m of investment

BGF invested £2.2m in Scottish organic waste management company, Keenan Recycling to fuel its expansion in the Central Belt.

Family-owned business, Keenan, which is headquartered in New Deer in Aberdeenshire, launched its commercial food waste collection service in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire in 2010 and now processes more than 60,000 tonnes of waste each year, transforming it into British Standards Institute accredited compost.

The company, which boasts a 14-acre facility at New Deer, near Turriff, has won awards for recycling food, garden and other organic waste into compost for agricultural and horticultural use, reducing the need to use chemical fertilisers.

Keenan Recycling opened a base at Linlithgow in August 2015 and has invested £700,000 in a fleet of six lorries to roll out its award-winning organic waste collection service to customers in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The investment from BGF will trigger further expansion in the Central Belt, where the firm is already collecting food waste from more than 600 clients and is on track to reach 1,000 businesses within the coming month.

The business is led by Grant Keenan, managing director.

BGF took a minority equity stake in the firm and a seat on the board.

Alongside BGF’s investment, Jim Clark, the founder of MSIS, an oil and gas waste management company, joined the board as Chairman. Mr Clark is a serial entrepreneur and chairman who brings with him sector and operational expertise in the waste management industry. Mel Keenan a founder member and investor in Keenan Recycling continues as a director. Mel has a track record of success having previously led a management buyout and subsequent sale of RGIT Montrose.