VERDANT ROLLS OUT NEW ANGLESEY SCHEME

Sevenoaks, Kent, 12th February 2008

Municipal services specialist Verdant Group Plc is rolling out an extension of an alternate week waste collection service, plus fortnightly green waste collection, to a further 10,000 households on the Welsh island of Anglesey.

Expected to be completed in March, the rollout is the latest phase of service improvements that began in 2006. The Isle of Anglesey County Council hopes the scheme will help to hit the Welsh Assembly-mandated 40% recycling target by 2009/10. The island's current recycling rate is 32%, a dramatic increase from the 2.6% of 2001/02.

The latest AWC rollout will bring the total number of participating households to 20,000, more than 60 per cent of the island's properties, with the remaining 13,600 properties to be added by March 2009.

Verdant is also extending the reach of its weekly kerbside recycling box collection service: a further 1,200 households will join the scheme by March, taking the total participating households to around 25,000. The remaining approximately 8,000 properties will be added by March 2009, leaving just special case and restricted access properties to be dealt with.

Verdant, which began a new 14-year refuse, recycling and cleansing contract on Anglesey in April 2007, by the County Council, is part of a pioneering partnership that was created to reduce waste and improve recycling on Anglesey.

The Ailgylchu Môn Recycling Partnership comprises Verdant, the County Council and community enterprise agency Menter Môn. The latter initially helped source and allocate EU Objective One funding but now concentrates on building community recycling support and involvement through local communication initiatives.

Verdant managing director Roger Edwards commented: "This latest rollout takes Anglesey ever closer to completing the transformation of its waste and recycling service. Our quality service commitment and our local partnership on the island have won over many thousands of residents who have helped lift recycling by around 30% in just a few years. We're very proud to have played, and continue to play, a key part in helping Anglesey meet its environmental challenges."

About Verdant
Verdant Group Plc, part of the Greenstar UK group, provides waste collection, recycling and cleansing services for an expanding local authority customer base in England and Wales. It makes an estimated 20 million-plus waste and recycling collections annually on behalf of its 20 current local authority customers. Recent additions to its portfolio include a seven year waste, recycling and cleansing contract for Stratford-on-Avon District Council; seven year cleansing, waste and recycling contracts for Rother District Council and Swale Borough Council; a seven year recycling, refuse and cleansing contract for South Buckinghamshire District Council; and, as its first London borough contract, a six year waste collection and recycling service for Waltham Forest Council. During 2007, Verdant also started a six year management contract for seven of Kent County Council's 12 household waste recycling centres. Other current local authority customers include Melton, Anglesey, Gosport, Mid Bedfordshire, South Bedfordshire, Bridgend, South Oxfordshire, Chiltern, Arun, Surrey Heath, Aylesbury Vale and Wycombe. The Verdant-operated Arun Green Waste Club won the Best Partnership Project category at the 2007 National Recycling Awards, and Verdant also won the Best Commitment to Health & Safety Practice category of the 2005 National Recycling Awards.

For further media information, contact:

Blair Drummond, Verdant PR consultant – tel (m) 07798 686 217, email blair.drummond@btopenworld.com