French waste management company Suez is buying 30pc of specialist recycling business TerraCycle in a deal that will enable it to recycle items such as coffee pods, cigarette butts and biscuit wrappers for the first time.

The multi-million pound deal will enable Suez to expand its services in the UK as well as in France, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, by branching out into collecting products that are often overlooked by its rivals. 

David Palmer-Jones, the company’s UK chief executive, said the deal enabled Suez to “harness the combined skills of both companies” to “tackle problematic and emerging waste streams in the UK and across Europe.”