Shanks was founded by Guy Shanks and Andrew McEwan in 1880 as a construction company operating primarily in the West of Scotland under the name Shanks & McEwan.

With almost 600 employees, we carry out three main activities in the UK:

Household waste recycling and processing;
Making lower-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels;
Converting food waste into renewable energy and bio-fertiliser

Shanks is particularly committed to working with local authorities to help them recycle and recover waste that would otherwise have gone to landfill. We currently provide services to 26 local authority areas, which include some of the largest contracts ever awarded.

In 1986, the company acquired London Brick Landfill and with it an enormous landfill capacity north of London. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988

In the mid 1990s the company sold its remaining construction interest to concentrate solely on waste management. In 1998 the company went on to buy four waste management companies in Belgium. The company changed its name in 1999 to Shanks Group plc.

In March 2000 the company looking to expand bought Waste Management Nederland B.V. in the Netherlands. However in July 2004 Shanks Group was looking to focus on the waste processing, recycling and energy production so sold its UK landfill and landfill gas power assets to Terra Firma.

2006 and 2007 saw the company grow even more with the acquisition of Smink Beheer B.V. in the Netherlands at a cost of €62m in 2006 and Orgaworld organic processing business in 2007. Shanks Group was also confirmed as the preferred bidder by Cumbria County Council for a 25 year PFI contract to treat the Councils’ waste.

A £71m Rights Issue was announced in 2009.

Shanks Group ever growing, took on the United Utilities PFI waste business in 2010 and was selected as the preferred bidder for Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (BDR) PFI contract in 2011.

2011 also saw the company open a number of new waste treatment facilities including our Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility in Cumbria, a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Kettering, a MRF in Glasgow and an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility in Cumbernauld.

The company acquired Van Tuijl in the Netherlands in 2012 and also reached financial close on the BDR PFI contract. Shanks also achieved preferred bidder status in 2012 for Pontypool PFI project to build and run an AD facility

Shanks Group now established for well over 100 years, has a very proud history of innovation in the industry which we hope will continue into the future.

Shanks sold its Solid Waste business to Biffa in late 2013, in order to focus on its growing UK Municipal business, which provides recycling and waste management services to local authorities in the UK.

Steel Recycling Services

Steel recycling