Biffa plc is a

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...

company headquartered in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

, England. It provides

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

and special waste services to

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

clients in the United Kingdom. , it was the UK's second-largest waste-management company. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

History

The company, which was originally engaged in the removal and sale of ashes and clinker from London power stations, was founded in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

by Richard Henry Biffa as Richard Biffa Limited, in 1912. In 1958 Richard Henry Biffa's grandson, Richard Charles Biffa, joined the business and, after becoming general manager in 1963, grew the business organically and by acquisition. The business was acquired by

British Electric Traction British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rent ...

in 1971 and by

Severn Trent Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, th ...

for £212 million in 1991. It acquired the American-owned UK Waste for £380 million in 2000. Severn Trent demerged the company to a consortium formed by

Global Infrastructure Partners Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is an infrastructure investment fund making equity and selected debt investments. GIP's main headquarters are located in New York City and its equity investments are based on infrastructure assets in the energ ...

Montagu Private Equity Montagu is a mid-market private equity firm with a specialism in carve-out transactions and other first-time buyout investments. Montagu partners with companies with multi-million dollar enterprise values. Headquartered in London, Montagu also ha ...

and Uberior Co-Investment in 2008. It acquired recycling firm Greenstar UK for £135 million in 2010. The company was re-listed on the

on 17 October 2016. In June 2022, Biffa received a buyout proposal from

private-equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

, Energy Capital Partners, at £4.45 a share, a 37% premium to the share price, valuing the company at £1.36 billion.

Operations

Biffa cover 95% of the UK. The company runs two Material Recycling Facilities (MRF).

Prosecutions for illegal activities

Biffa has been prosecuted for the following breaches of environmental waste export laws: *The company was convicted of four breaches of waste shipment regulations during the period 2018-2019. *The company was convicted of attempting to export used nappies and materials illegally in 2020. *In 2021, the company was found guilty in a case brought about by the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

, having attempted to illegally export banned household waste items, including plastic bags, tins, clothing and condoms - incorrectly identified as waste paper. The company was fined £1.5 million, and severely rebuked by Judge Shane Collery QC, who described Biffa as "having shown no contrition" for this crime, referring to their actions as "reckless, bordering on deliberate".

References

External links

* {{Authority control Waste management companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange 1910 establishments in England

History

Operations

Prosecutions for illegal activities

See also

References

External links