Each month ROJ will go ‘on tour’ visiting UROC members to fi nd out just what makes them tick. T is issue ROJ meets with Simon Arnold, Transport Manager at Paul Riches Skips.


Paul Riches Skips has been built up from the ground into a successful family-run business.


Paul Riches Skips has come a long way in two generations. Based a few miles outside Bedford, the skip hire and recycling company started life as a one-man band just 35 years ago before growing into the established family- run business it is today.


“Paul Riches built this company up from the ground”, explains company transport manager, Simon Arnold. “He started off about 35 years ago with just one skip lorry and half a dozen skips. He grew it from there through hard work.


“We are up to 13 vehicles now, ranging from 7.5 tonne skip lorries to 32 tonne roll-on roll-off vehicles, and


of business comes from builders, householders and manufacturers.


Permitted to process 75,000 tonnes of waste a year, the company currently has 700 skips and makes around 60-70 skip deliveries and collections every day.


RECYCLING “When the skips get tipped at our site we sort out anything that can be recycled and that is baled and sent onwards”, says Mr Arnold. “We have got a trommel which sorts out the hardcore and that goes for recycling.”


“Scrap metal is kept locally, as is wood and hardcore and soil. UPVC stays local and rigid plastics are sent to Yorkshire.”


Mr Arnold adds that the company uses some of the waste wood that comes into the site to generate heat.


“We have got our own on-site wood burner in which we burn some of the clean wood and that provides heating to the site”, he says.


we have 25 staff .”


Mr Riches still works in the business together with his son Kevin and three daughters, Bridget, Deborah and Denise, making it a truly family-run operation. Mr Arnold himself is Mr Riches’ son-in-law.


“A lot of our customers know the family and who is involved”, says Mr Arnold, “So they know who they are dealing with.”


T e company serves customers within a 25 mile radius of its Kempston Court site including Bedford, Milton Keynes, Luton, Dunstable and the surrounding villages. T e majority


28


In total, around 87% of all waste handled by the company is recycled or used to generate energy, with only a small fraction sent to landfi ll.


SERVICE However, Mr Arnold believes it is the company’s high level of customer service that is the main reason it has built such a loyal following in the area.


“Customers keep coming back to us for our service”, says Mr Arnold. “We provide the best service around here. If we say we will be somewhere at seven in the morning we will do it. T at is why we have customers who have been with us since we started.”


BROKERS When asked about the issues aff ecting small skip hire companies, Mr Arnold


points to the rise in customers who use brokers to manage their waste.


He says: “A lot of companies now just want to call a broker and let them take care of their waste. We try to deal directly with customers if we can”.


UROC T e issue of trommel fi ne (the fi ne material screened out of waste by a trommel) and how Landfi ll Tax is applied to them is also something the business has had to get its head around.


T is is one of the reasons the company joined UROC, as UROC has been very proactive on this issue.


Mr Arnold explains: “We signed up to UROC as it provides a voice for the waste industry and has been big on the fi nes issue. I know a few other people who are members too. It is nice to have someone you can call upon if you need it.”


FUTURE Looking to the future, Mr Arnold says he hopes that Paul Riches Skips will continue to prosper.


He comments: “We want to carry on what we are doing and hopefully we will still be here in another 35 years.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36