A NORTH-EAST waste firm is the subject of a management buyout.

Agilitas, a European private equity firm, has invested in a buyout of the waste management businesses of Impetus Waste Management Holdings Limited.

Impetus, founded in 2003, handles more than 500,000 tonnes of commercial, industrial and municipal waste every year in landfill sites at Teesport and Cowpen Bewley, near Billingham, Stockton, and waste transfer stations at Wallsend, North Tyneside and Washington, Wearside.

It previously signed a 20-year agreement to supply waste to Air Products, which is building an advanced gasification plant in Billingham, that is due to start work this year.

When finished, the factory will be one of the largest of its kind in the world, with bosses expecting it to power about 50,000 homes by generating energy from burning waste destined for landfill.

Martin Calderbank, Agilitas' founding partner, said: “Impetus is an organisation at the crossroads of change and we see huge opportunities in helping the management team develop their business in waste to energy.”

Richard Lord, Impetus' managing director, added: “With landfill sites in the North-East likely to be full by the end of the decade, it's vital to find a new approach, and I'm delighted to be working with Agilitas.”