Shanks wins M&S recycling contract

Waste management firm Shanks has won a contract to recycle Marks and Spencer (M&S) food.

According to the Daily Mail, Shanks will collect surplus food from 600 stores and convert it into fertiliser and biofuel.

"It is the first time M&S has awarded a nationwide contract to recycle food that is waste, unsold or past its sell-by-date," the newspaper noted.

Shanks, which currently manages waste food for the Netherlands supermarket Albert Heijn, was awarded the prestigious contract in conjunction with Severnside Recycling.

The waste will be processed using anaerobic digestion facilities and Shanks Orgaworld technology.

M&S recently pledged that by 2012 it would no longer be sending its waste to landfill sites.

Meanwhile, it was reported earlier this month that supermarket giant Tesco is on track to divert 95 per cent of its waste away from landfill sites by the end of 2010.