Waste removal company Biffa celebrates 100 years

Biffa celebrated 100 years of working in the waste removal industry in December. They now consider themselves the largest company in this field in the UK.

The group invited workers, investors, shareholders and all those involved in its company to a lavish centenary lunch to mark the occasion, according to letsrecycle.com.

Diners were treated to a beautiful meal at a restaurant in Marlow, close to the company’s High Wycombe headquarters.

Here, they were told all about the company's history, which dates back to 1912 when it was founded by Richard Henry Biffa.

The lunch couldn't have come at a better time, as the company had some other recent good news.

It has had a recent investment of £250 million, which will be put towards the restructuring of the business.

Speaking ahead of the lunch, Ian Wakelin, chief executive of Biffa, told letsrecycle.com: “These funds have said this is a really good business which is clearly too highly leveraged and has too much debt. With sensible terms they are willing to invest their cash, saying we think this is a great business and something we can get involved with.”

According to Biffa, the investment will provide substantial growth in the coming years in its commercial and industrial fields. It plans on investing in recycling, among other things.

Mr Wakelin has said that the way Biffa recycles could change, using new refuse derived fuel (RDF) or solid recovered fuel (SRF) production capacity for selling into the global market.

“That’s the way this industry’s going. Biffa’s one of the largest commercial waste collectors in the UK, and we need that middle-piece infrastructure that we will be developing over the coming years,” he said.

The news is fantastic for the company, as it has recently been reported that it has been struggling with debt – something that the investment has got it out of.