Vertex Law

Tue 13 April 2010

Countrystyle, the Kent-based waste management and recycling company operating in the South East and East Anglia, has completed the purchase of TJ Composting, a South East based organics recycling business.
 

The acquisition will see Countrystyle, which has a head office in Lenham, near Maidstone, and a composting plant at Sittingbourne, take over four operational sites at Swanley and in Hampshire, Sussex and Essex. Countrystyle was represented in the transaction of the final purchase by Kings Hill based solicitors Vertex Law.
 

The acquisition expands Countrystyle’s composting operations to a more national basis and increases capacity to produce over 150,000 tonnes of soil conditioning compost a year. The open windrow system operating at the four sites will see organic material being matured outdoors for a minimum of 12 weeks, with material being rotated using open windrow turn methods used to speed up the composting process. 

In addition, the Swanley depot is hoping to receive planning permission to build a 46,000 tonne-a-year anaerobic digestion facility, which will provide environmentally friendly treatment of food and green waste and a source of renewable energy.
 

Most of the green and food waste that currently supplies the facilities comes from local authority civic amenity sites and trade material from landscapers, where it is then processed into nutrient rich compost. Once produced, the compost is supplied to many different genres of grounds maintenance contractors including gardeners, farmers, landscapers and horticulturists, as well as working in partnership local authorities.
 

 “We are delighted with the acquisition and see this as an important strategic step in Countrystyle Group’s ongoing development plan, which has seen the company grow steadily across the South East,” said Mat Stewart, Managing Director at Countrystyle Group.
 

Stuart Butler-Gallie of Vertex Law said, “We were happy to support Countrystyle Group with this important acquisition. It was an entirely amicable agreement with obvious benefits for both parties.”