St1 Nordic acquires UK-based grease collection, recycling firm

Photo: Brocklesby Ltd.

Energy company St1 Nordic Oy has acquired 100 percent of Brocklesby Ltd., a recycler of used cooking oil and fatty food waste—one of the U.K.’s leading refiners in the field. Brocklesby’s waste collection is based on strong partnerships with a large number of restaurants, retailers and food manufacturers in the U.K. Collection volumes produce more than 46,000 metric tons of output annually.

The acquisition will strengthen St1’s value chain further upstream towards feedstock collection. It will provide feedstocks for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. A new biorefinery is under construction on the St1 refinery site in Gothenburg, Sweden, with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons of renewable fuels production expected to begin operations in 2023.

“By investing in renewable energy and in the transition of the energy sector while ensuring the necessary cash flow, we are solving global energy challenges for our part, step by step,” said Henrikki Talvitie, CEO of St1 Nordic Oy. “Entering the sustainable feedstock business in the U.K. is a concrete step in consistent and long-term implementation of our growth strategy. At the same time, it strengthens our feedstock sourcing for our own growing renewable fuels production and enables development of future growth in a new business area. Acquiring Brocklesby is a significant reinforcement of our value chain and results in more and more sustainable feedstocks for our premium energy products that we will serve our customers with.”

Robert Brocklesby, director of Brocklesby Ltd., added, “We are excited to now be part of the energy company St1 Nordic and the opportunities for the future that this delivers to Brocklesby employees, the site and wider business for its continued future growth. This allows Brocklesby to be part of the whole supply chain from a restaurant collection directly through to the manufacture of sustainable aviation fuel—a truly integrated operation.”

Brocklesby has a strong history of 35 years and it employs around 80 recycling professionals. It is located strategically in close proximity to the port of Hull, facilitating collections from across the U.K.

“I am extremely proud to welcome the people, traditions and suppliers of Brocklesby to our St1 family,” Talvitie said. “Joining forces will make us stronger going forward in our energy transition roadmap. I am so pleased that Rob will continue in an active role as a board member of Brocklesby, strengthened further with the existing management team, ensuring seamless supplier relationship management together with developing new business opportunities and growth.” St1 Nordic Oy focuses on fuels marketing activities, oil refining and renewable energy solutions such as waste-based advanced biofuels and industrial wind power. The group has 1,250 St1- and Shell-branded retail stations in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, St1 employs currently more than 1,000 people.