Viridor Waste Management
Urban Business Awards 2006
Urban Business Award 2006
The Crown Estate is delighted to announce the winners of a new, company-wide Business Awards scheme designed to recognise excellence in business performance, innovation, environmental care and sustainability. These areas complement The Crown Estate’s core values of commercialism, integrity and stewardship.
The awards operate in each of The Crown Estate’s business areas – marine, rural and urban - and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to encouraging the development of successful, innovative and sustainable business.
The Urban Business Award has been awarded to Viridor Waste Management for their landfill and recycling business in Taunton, Somerset.
Occupying 28 hectares on the Priorswood estate in Taunton, Viridor Waste Management have worked with The Crown Estate to redevelop an old landfill site into a modern household waste recycling centre and materials recycling facility.
The household waste site is now used by up to 1000 members of the public each day and recycles over 25 types of household waste. Materials such as paper, card, wood and metal are recycled and tonnages recovered have risen from 15,000 tonnes per annum to over 30,000 tonnes per annum with the construction of the new materials recycling facility.
There are future plans to undertake significant works on the ex-landfilled area in order to create a recreational open space or community woodland on an area of open land on the site.
Viridor has decades of experience in the waste industry, having begun operating in Taunton in 1956 providing a tanker transport service to customers in the South West.
Giles Clarke, Director of Investment and Asset Management at The Crown Estate, and one of the judges of the Urban Business Award, said, “The judges were highly impressed by Viridor’s commitment to deliver improved recycling facilities at the Priorswood Estate while addressing issues of noise pollution and traffic congestion by locating the new facility to the south of the site away from the perimeter overlooking the canal and houses.”
The company’s engagement with other stakeholders and the efforts made to ensure that the new recycling facility not only met their businesses needs, but also those of their neighbours was deemed to be particularly commendable.
Pete Daniel, Development Manager with Viridor in Somerset, said, “It is a fantastic reward for the work we have done at Priorswood. We worked hard, in conjunction with local people, to come up with a scheme that would benefit the community and we are delighted that has been recognised in such a high profile way.”