entrepreneurs 19
Pictures by Angus Thomas
You’re clearly passionate about waste management and diverting waste from landfill. If you had five minutes to talk to the prime minister about waste management, what would you want to say?
I don’t think enough is being done to convince people to recycle. There is a fantastic opportunity to do more and I’d like to see that being driven by increased legislation to force companies to recycle far more than they do.
Landfill tax is beginning to lose its inertia as a driver for change and we could do well to look at what is happening in Scotland and Wales, where they are being more prescriptive in terms of legislation on waste.
For example, if an organisation produces over 50kg of food waste, then they should be made to have a separate food waste collection so it
can go to energy or compost. Similarly with other recyclable material, companies have to recycle it.
In England, there seems to be a lack of desire to legislate and there’s too much red tape. We need to make waste management much clearer and easier to manage. Then we will get more involvement and buy-in from businesses and it will mean waste management companies would be able to invest more in the right facilities and services for customers.
What next for Simply Waste?
Our goal is to carry on doing what we do and make sure we maintain our reputation for good customer service, good environmental standards and good ethics – both in the way we conduct our business and the way we treat our staff.
I believe if you stick to your principles in business then you attract the right people and you become the type of business you want to be.
I’d like to see Simply Waste double in size in the next five years and I think we’re very well positioned to make that happen.
Who inspires you?
On a business level it would have to be self- made entrepreneurs such as Lord Sugar and Richard Branson, who came from virtually nothing to build their businesses. On a more personal level, I take inspiration from many unsung heroes, such as Tony Phoenix-Morrison who ran from John O’Groats to Lands End with a fridge on his back to raise money for cancer research.
I think you don’t have to look very far to find inspirational people in the community, whether that’s coaching local football teams or organising things for children. British people
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2013
have a real tenacity for those sorts of things and I really admire them.
Football is something of a theme for Simply Waste isn’t it?
Yes, we sponsor a number of local football teams, both young adults and youngsters and through our charity days we also support Schools 4 Schools, which focuses on children in Gambia, West Africa, raising funds for schools and providing equipment.
At a company level, we were also thrilled when our very own Simply Waste football team recently won the Waste World Cup, a football tournament organised and supported by
letsrecycle.com in which waste management companies from all over the UK compete for the champion title. So well done to everyone who took part.
Do you play to keep fit?
I’m a West Ham fan but I don’t play football myself. My daughter Maisie is two-years-old and my wife is expecting another baby in January, so I decided last year that I had to do something to get fit. I wanted to have enough energy to run around with them as well as juggle running the business.
I’m 35 and as you get older, you realise you’re not indestructible, so I’ve been working out and been on a strict diet. I’ve lost six stone in 18 months and ran my first triathlon a month ago, which was a great achievement.
I was also very proud to do the London to Brighton bicycle ride and raised £2,500 for Great Ormond Street Hospital and I’m now training for the London to Paris bicycle ride next April as well as the next Blenheim triathlon, so that’s the next big thing on my agenda.
Details:
www.simplywastesolutions.co.uk www.businessmag.co.uk
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