Viridor chief executive Colin Drummond is under no illusion about why the waste management firm has notched up impressive growth rates over the last ten years.

"The reason for the fast growth is that being green is good for business," he said, before giving some of the highlights of the last year – and there have been plenty.

The business is a waste management, recycling and renewable energy company, with the latter two sides of the business the fastest-growing.

Making the Fast Growth 75 list this year is Viridor subsidiary Viridor Waste Management, which, with 914 employees and pre-tax profits of £33,444,000 is making a strong contribution to the success of its holding company, Viridor Ltd.

The business is ranked 23rd on the Fast Growth 75 list.

The Taunton-based company as a whole, which is owned by South West Water parent Pennon Group, recorded profits of £32.6 million in its annual results for 2009.

It signed Europe's largest waste and renewable energy contract, a PFI scheme in Greater Manchester which has a capital investment programme of £650 million and total revenue over the 25 year contract of £3 billion.

It is also the preferred bidder for a similar scheme in Oxfordshire. And it has submitted plans to Devon County Council to build a £100 million energy-from-waste plant at New England Quarry, Lee Mill, between Plymouth and Ivybridge.

In addition, the firm announced £16 million investment plans for its Heathfield site, near Newton Abbot.

The company has submitted planning applications for two recycling developments on the site, which it says will reduce the amount of waste being put into its landfill by up to 90,000 tonnes a year and create up to 30 jobs.

The proposed new developments will comprise a 6,500sq m materials recycling facility, to sort mixed recyclables collected from residents and businesses across Teignmouth, Torbay, Exeter, South Devon and parts of West Devon.

The company is also proposing a 4,000sq m treatment plant that will recover commercial waste for recycling.

Having grown from a Westcountry-based company to a national operation, Viridor remains firmly focused on growth.

While around 12 per cent of its current growth rate is organic, the remaining 10 per cent comes from a series of acquisitions the firm has made in the last ten years. In total, Viridor has invested £300 million over the last decade on 15 acquisitions.

While Mr Drummond doesn't rule out getting his cheque book out again, he said that it would have to be the right deal for Viridor to invest.

"Ninety per cent of acquisitions that come across my desk go straight in the bin but there are a small number that we look at seriously and if it makes sense we will do it," he said.

"We are driven ruthlessly by what is in our shareholders' interests."

While the firm has largely benefited from the environmental legislation and regulation, Mr Drummond urged the Government to go further in terms of setting renewable energy from waste targets.

"Waste accounts for 1.5 per cent of the UK's electricity's production and 30 per cent of its renewable energy output. I have called on the Government repeatedly to set a target of six per cent of electricity from waste by 2015," he said.

"While we need every bit of energy we can get, wind on its own has got a lot of problems.

"Once we have maximised the recycling, there is always a residue which we can either put in landfill, which is being restricted by Europe, quite rightly.

"The residue has to be burnt and you might as well do that so that you can maximise the amount of renewable energy as well as dealing with the waste management problem."

Because the areas Viridor trades in are relatively recession proof, the company has found itself shielded from the worst effects of the economic volatility of the last few years.

"The recession has only impacted on the rate of growth of Viridor profits, no more than that. There are environmental priorities for doing more recycling and that part of the business is continuing to perform well," said Mr Drummond.

"Ten years ago, people regarded Britain as the dirty man of Europe and the improvement in recycling has been massive. In the UK, it has gone from under 10 per cent recycling in 2000 to 40 per cent now. Devon and Somerset are a couple of the leading counties for recycling in the UK and it's good that Viridor started from there."

And Mr Drummond is under no doubts that a company can compete and succeed on the national stage from a Westcountry base.

"A lot of people in Birmingham and London think that you have to be based in a big city centre to trade successfully, but that's not the case. It is quite possible to build a big business in the Westcountry," he said.