News & Blogs
December 2025
Firstly, we’d like to wish all our clients a very happy Christmas and hope you all get the break you deserve. In the last 12 months, we have worked with a myriad of businesses and individuals who are committed to improving the way we manage the waste we cannot avoid. The waste, resources, and renewables sector continues to be an inspirational place to work and we appreciate being able to support them and their objectives.
Much of the work we do is confidential, so we won’t mention any names, but this year we have delivered 38 projects for 30 clients which have included 38 projects delivered for 30 clients, spanning everything from commercial due diligence to strategic advisory.
Support for 6 transactions, including chemical recycling infrastructure, advanced sorting, EfW, waste wood biomass power, anaerobic digestion portfolios, and concrete recycling.
Market assessments for residual waste, mixed plastics, waste wood, and organics across more than 8 infrastructure projects.
Policy and carbon mitigation work, helping clients navigate circular economy and net-zero policies and their impact on waste flows and pricing.
Strategic and technical partnerships with leadership teams at over 10 companies to shape forward-looking, market-driven strategies and investment plans.
Expert witness services for local authorities and private businesses, including detailed reports, verbal evidence, and formal mediation.
We also published two complementary reports this year:
For CIWM, we explored the systemic impact of extending the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on sector stakeholders.
For Suez, we examined how local authorities and waste producers can mitigate rising EfW costs by diverting plastics.
Both reports are available here. Plus, we contributed data and insights to the waste-derived SAF chapter of Philip New’s report Clear Skies Ahead.
We asked each of our Directors what they will remember most in 2025, and the key hopes for 2026. Read their responses below.
I have really enjoyed working ‘hands on’ with clients and the variety of projects we managed across the Ceres team. My highlights have included supporting waste companies and investors in their site and business development to add value; my time as part-time platform manager for the Compostable by Design platform, working collaboratively across the supply chain with key players and brands in Europe and North America; and supporting innovative start up through my work with Innovation Zero, creating impact assessments with the latest Archipelago cohort as well as getting involved with Earth Capital and supporting their Board.
If you had three wishes for 2026?
Wish #1: More collaborative and creative approaches across the plastics supply chain to create plastic and general recycling infrastructure in UK and Europe.
Wish #2: Regulators that are better prepared for the implementation of upcoming requirements and be clear in the implementation of chains of custody to trace and track recycled products for re-manufacture.
Wish #3: For some key start ups to succeed in the market and establish viable and credible pathways towards a circular economy.
Claudia Amos, Director
This year my expert witness work has taken me international supporting a client in Southeast Asia. I have now had the experience of visiting waste infrastructure in Southeast Asia and sampled the local food and culture. Domestically, there has been renewed interest in anaerobic digestion, driven my mandatory food waste collections and the increasing demand for biomethane as a feedstock for sustainable fuel production. We have supported clients with several transactions in the UK and Ireland in the AD sector this year and there is no sign of interest in the sector diminishing.
If you had three wishes for 2026?
Wish #1: To further develop our existing client relationships and bring what I believe is a true relationship approach to more new clients in 2026.
Wish #2: Greater recognition amongst operators that systems and procedures such as an EMS are not an afterthought or a hinderance to operating a business but a fundamental part of running a successful organisation safely, compliantly, and effectively.
Wish #3: A more focused effort on waste crime – reducing it at source through better management and compliance and reducing its subsequent impact on the environment, whilst reducing the cost to the taxpayer and recognising the professionalism and good work that the waste and recycling sector deliver.
Stephen Wise, Director
I have particularly enjoyed working closely with the boards and senior leadership teams at several waste and resources businesses, developing investment cases and strategies that will optimise their position in response to changing legislation. This has included the re-development of a large, multi-activity waste site, a site in Scotland and another in the North of England. It’s been really rewarding to combine our market, regulatory and operational knowledge with the commercial and investment needs of these ambitious businesses.
If you had three wishes for 2026?
Wish #1: I hope to continue to develop these long-term, ‘trusted partner’ relationships with clients. It’s gratifying to be able to provide on-going support rather than delivering a specific project and moving on.
Wish #2: I’d love to see significant reform of the ‘end of waste’ to make it easier and less ‘risky’ for operators to demonstrate their product meets the tests. Given that the foundation of a circular economy is material going from waste to a product, I’m constantly surprised this isn’t more of a priority.
Wish #3: More of the same! I have really enjoyed working with my colleagues on the projects we have delivered this year. We’re able to set our own direction, prioritise our clients and work on across a wide range of issues which is always stimulating.
Simone Aplin, Director
The proposals to extend the UK ETS to EfW have been the focus of much of my work this year. The more we learn from the consultation responses and working through routes to implementation and the impact of carbon pricing on the market, the more I believe that it could be as transformational as landfill tax and push more waste up to the next step of the waste hierarchy, i.e. recycling rather than recovery, particularly for plastics.
If you had three wishes for 2026?
The impact of ETS will depend on how it is implemented and so for next year, my wish list is:
Wish #1: An approach to ETS cost pass-through that meaningfully reflects the fossil carbon removal efforts of waste producers.
Wish #2: The ring-fencing of EPR funding to allow local authorities to invest in ETS cost mitigation measures.
Wish #3: Progress towards the creation of investable conditions for the plastics recycling infrastructure we need to meet policy ambitions.
Jamie Warmington, Director
