For the past two decades, Waste Efficiency has developed its services to deliver the very best waste management, recycling and facilities management solutions. Now, with its 20th anniversary looming, the company is on a mission to become the preeminent independent provider of waste management for the whole of the UK. Managing Director Tim Reed discussed how this will be achievable. Report by Imogen Ward.
Hoping to secure the top spot in the UK, Waste Efficiency intends to become the go-to place for waste management.
“We want to become the preeminent independent provider of total waste
management services in the UK,” said Managing Director Tim Reed. “We will do that by providing customers with the best data and the most compliant services.”
Ever since 2003, when the company was first established, Waste Efficiency
has utilised its expertise up and down the country, to aid customers that are looking to manage their waste.
“The beauty of our offering as a business, is that it works for just about anybody,” Mr Reed explained. “At the moment, we do a lot of business in the industrial manufacturing area, but that is expanding into other areas, because any company that really values doing the right thing – managing waste and having control over its processes – is a potential customer for us.”
Currently on the company’s radar is the distribution and fulfilment sector. Already present within this market,
Waste Efficiency aims to expand its customer-base, to advance closer to number one status.
After having recent success with expansion (the company has successfully doubled in size over the last two years), Waste Efficiency anticipates it will double again by 2026.
The company provides a comprehensive offering, including total waste management, waste compliance management and consultancy. The company also has on-site waste operators available when needed and provides cleaning and site maintenance services to ensure all its customers’ production lines are shipshape.
A system that incites change
With customers in mind, Tim Reed set out to develop a system that could make waste management accessible for all. In 2013, the company introduced its online reporting system, CADS. A virtual portal that enables customers to input data and create reports, CADS also has ready-made reports which can be used for guidance and ease.
“One of the key elements of improving a site is good quality data,” Mr Reed said. “It’s very important to maintain a good understanding of what is happening. What
waste are you producing? How do you produce it? Why do you produce it? What happens to it? What opportunities do you have to move that waste up the waste hierarchy? These are all questions that require powerful information; and many companies just do not have access to that. We give customers every opportunity to get the answers needed for the best solutions.”
As an additional bonus, Waste Efficiency also offers consultancy support: analysing customer data, identifying anomalies and providing sensible solutions.
“When we first created our portal, there were hardly any other companies that had one,” Mr Reed explained. “Now, everybody
seems to have their own version; but they vary tremendously in terms of user experience and the quality of data they can provide. Those are the two areas where we remain ahead of the game, and future investments will only place us further in front.
“Through this system, our customers can a ccess tools which will help them to interrogate the data and turn it into meaningful actions, and we will support them every step of the way. It’s one thing providing data, but customers need the additional support to actually interpret that data.”
Closing the loop
With the aim of creating closed-loop recycling, (dependent on the waste stream), the company also offers a recycling-based solution.
“Some of our customers are making plastic components,” Mr Reed said. “In some cases, these production processes create a lot of waste. We take that waste material, process it, regrind it back into polymer and send it back to be reused in the production process. This creates circular closed-loop recycling
“The popularity of this service is growing because there’s a push from the industry to include recycled materials in their products. I think as the world wakes up to closed-loop recycling, it’s something we will be seeing a lot more of in the future.”
Unlike traditional waste companies with expensive vehicles and premises, Waste Efficiency does not have an expensive infrastructure it is under pressure to load. By removing the pressure of physical captive infrastructure, Waste Efficiency
can dedicate more of its time to finding the perfect solution for each customer. “We don’t have a fleet of lorries sitting outside that have to be used every day to ensure they pay for themselves,” Mr Reed explained. “That means we don’t have that pressure to sell in-house services so we can really focus on delivering the optimum solution for each waste stream. This enables us to deliver the very best solution for each customer.”
A top team
All of Waste Efficiency’s successes have occurred with the support of an ambitious and passionate team. The company is committed to ensuring the wellbeing of its workers.
“A lot of our staff are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis,” said Mr Reed.
“We look to support people where we can. We have signed up for a scheme, which will give all our employees discounts at a large range of retailers. We always try to keep communication open with our staff so that we know when there are issues, and we can do our utmost to help ensure they remain content at work.”
The staff at Waste Efficiency are a number one priority: Mr Reed even attributed his own motivation to them. “One of the most satisfying parts of my job is seeing everyone work cohesively as a team,” he concluded. “We have quite a few people on the team, in a range of different roles, but they all come together to really help improve our customers’ experience and drive forward our vision of being the market leader for waste management.” n
