Shanks Group

Shanks Group plc is a leading European independent waste management company, which operates in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. The turnover for the 2005/6 financial year was £443 million (c€650m), of which 60% was derived from the Benelux countries. The average number of people employed by the Shanks during 2005/06 was 3,470.Fact|date=February 2007

Shanks started life in the late 1800s as a construction company based primarily in the West of Scotland. Waste management activities gradually increased and in 1986, the then-named Shanks & McEwan, acquired London Brick Landfill and an enormous landfill capacity North of London. This, together with successful Stock Market flotation in 1988, produced the foundation for organic and acquisitive growth including the purchase of the former Rechem Environmental Services in the early 1990s.

The sale of Shanks’ remaining construction interest, to concentrate solely on waste management, followed a re-organisation of the management team in late 1993 and 1994. Since then Shanks has grown significantly, both by organic growth and by acquisition. Shanks has increased the range of its waste management services and, in 1998, took its first steps into Europe with the acquisition of a significant group of waste management interests in Belgium.

Two years later, in March 2000, Shanks arrived in the Netherlands via the purchase of the 8 principal businesses of Waste Management Nederland BV.

In July 2004 the sale of Shanks' UK landfill and landfill gas power assets to Terra Firma - owners of Waste Recycling Group - was formally completed.

Shanks believes that the future of waste management is in the more technical solutions and therefore made the decision to sell the bulk of its landfill business in the UK in July 2004. This placed Shanks in an ideal position to further invest in its modern European operations and to concentrate on a suite of modern waste and resource management activities in the UK. This is demonstrated by the recent €62m acquisition of Smink Beheer B.V. in the Netherlands.The current operations of Shanks are concentrated within the following three countries:

1. UKThe principal business areas in the UK are long term local authority municipal solid waste (MSW) contracts, contaminated land services, industrial and commercial collections and recycling, and landfill (via joint ventures).

The contracts with local authorities are integrated contracts which focus on the treatment rather than collection of MSW. These contracts require significant investment in infrastructure for which Shanks has arranged project finance. Currently Shanks manages a combined total of 700,000 tonnes of MSW per annum. The combined investment in infrastructure on these contracts will exceed £150m.

2. The NetherlandsShanks Netherlands consists of eight main business units with a number of ‘satellite’ companies covering the Ranstadt area. It handles commercial, industrial, construction and demolition, and hazardous wastes. Activities include collections, sorting and processing, re-use and recycling, soil cleaning, composting, landfill, refuse-derived fuel production and industrial cleaning.

3. BelgiumShanks Belgium operates in all three regions of the country – Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Its facilities are capable of handling a range of waste, including municipal, industrial and hazardous waste. Activities include collections, recycling, soil cleaning, refuse-derived fuel production, industrial cleaning, waste treatment and landfill.

ee also

*Avondale Landfill A landfill jointly owned by Shanks Group and Landmedia Ltd
*Armitage Shanks UK toilet manufacturer
*Greengairs Landfill

External links

* [http://www.shanks.co.uk/shanks/ Official site]
* [http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=SKS.L Yahoo profile]