COMPANY PROFILE
Bin there! Done that! Company profile: UK Containers Maintenance
COUNTING the pennies with the credit cards at risk of being maxed out is often the point when many new business owners consider throwing in the towel.
Emma Elston, however, believes pouring everything she and partner Julian had into launching their business made them even more determined to make it a success.
The couple had identified a gap in the waste sector that saw tatty and broken containers and bins dumped when they could be repaired and re-used, saving money, avoiding unnecessary waste and sealing a hole in the circular economy.
“It was passion, positivity and not wanting to fail,” says Emma, recalling what motivated them to keep going. “If you believe in something you go and do your best to get it.
“We wanted to prove that what we set out to do was going to work. If you have determination, hard work and some sprinkling of good luck, then things can go right.”
Today UK Containers Maintenance (UKCM) is the UK’s largest family-owned business of its kind. It’s also one of the sector’s biggest success stories.
Since its launch, UKCM has revamped more than 1.5 million waste containers, saving their owners an estimated £250m that would have been spent replacing their old bins with new.
We take the containers and give them everything they need to get back out there again."
46
Not bad for what started as a mere observation: that throwing out bins rather than repairing them was a waste.
“Julian went out repairing containers for free to show that we could do it,” recalls Emma, who had a background in sales and public relations. “It was something new that hadn’t been done before in the north of England.
“And I was on the phone, at 23 years old, ringing around trying to get businesses on board and trying to see people. We didn’t have any funding; the bank wasn’t interested in supporting the idea of
By SANDRA DICK
repairing bins – they were ‘just’ bins. We borrowed money on credit cards to set up the business.
“We were very much on our own and it was very hard,” she adds. “We didn’t have any money behind us; we didn’t own a property or a home that the bank could take as collateral.
“But we believed in what we were doing, and we still do.
“It took about six months to get our first contract with Trafford Borough Council, but then we were able to show other people pictures and say ‘this is what we do’. Things took off.”
Today UKCM employs 70 people across the UK. The business moved into an 80,000 sq ft factory in Winsford, Cheshire, two years ago, where containers arrive looking beaten, broken and in need of major attention to be revamped and reborn before leaving good as new.
There’s also a mobile team which carries out on-site repairs and upgrades across the country, so containers and bins can be revamped quickly and back in service without any major delays.
“Not all containers need a full refurbishment,” adds Emma, who is chief executive of the business, while husband Julian is managing director. “The ones we bring to our factory get the full treatment, but some can be done in situ.
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 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
