SKIPS, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES


Four decades of success for CSH Environmental


CSH ENVIRONMENTAL started from humble beginnings after a chance conversation between founder Terry Slade and his neighbour in 1981.


The over-the-fence chat included the sale of 10 mini skips, sparking a business idea which changed the course of Terry’s life and the lives of those around him, writes SAMUEL McKEOWN.


Son Mark Slade, 49, recalled: “Dad bought the skips and we had interest straight away after publicising them at the Colchester carnival.


“Within the next two months, my dad quit his job as a week-on- week-off driver because of all the enquires - so much so we started distributing the skips full-time and Colchester Mini Skips was born.


“Looking back, it may have seemed a risk to buy the skips, but in life if you don’t take risks you get left behind.”


Mark joined as an 18-year-old company driver and added: “When you’re the son of the boss you have to work twice as hard as everyone else just to stand still!”


By the late 80s, the family-run business expanded and changed its name to Colchester Skip Hire. By this time Terry’s daughter Caron, now 54, worked at the fi rm in an administrative role.


Grandfather-of-three Terry, 72, said: “I had no idea how big the business would become in the early days.


“My late wife Patricia was certainly very doubtful. She went mad when I ordered an extra ten mini skips while she was at work one day – she thought I’d thrown away our savings.”


Offi ce was half the dining table


After a turbulent start, Patricia came round to her husband’s new enterprise and gave up her job as a dinner lady to join Terry at work.


“Our offi ce was half the dining table at home.


Pat used to do the invoices on a sticky old typewriter, and all the money we made went back into the business. I’ve always been very careful with fi nances, and have never spent money I hadn’t earned fi rst,” said Terry.


Mark added: “I think we were lucky as there was a few big projects in the area, which cemented us as a prospering business during the mid-80s.”


These projects included the Culver Square Shopping Centre, the Colchester Police Station, a contract with Heathrow Airport, and the mammoth Garrison Colchester project, which involved collecting and reprocessing waste from 100 eight-yard skips – the largest building project in the country at the time.


Eventually, Terry had to adapt his business to the changing landscape of waste management.


He explained: “The local councils started to charge for the weight of waste rather than the size of the skips. We realised the industry was turning more towards recycling, so we obtained one of the fi rst waste transfer licences for recycling from Trading Standards.


“We extended our workshop to create a picking line and install a trommel system.”


Colchester Skip Hire was renamed CSH Environmental in 2013, and now operates one of East Anglia’s largest waste recycling centres in Wormingford, employing over 90 staff members. The company are also heavily involved with collecting commercial waste.


Mark added: “Our MRF Wormingford facility is one of the largest in East Anglia if not in the country. We reprocess and sort out 33 diff erent materials which are then recycled, while reducing the amount of waste sent to landfi ll."


Terry concluded: “We’re applying for planning permission for a new 20,000 square foot facility, which will enable us to process plastic recycling even more effi ciently. It’s fantastic to see how far we have come since we started with one van and ten skips.”


With the company's recycling system - which includes 33 products - CSH Environmental have attracted business abroad and now export waste to places like Vietnam, Malaysia and Belgium to become recyclable items. Recently, Dubai Com pany Visionscape called upon the team to advise them on a project taking place in Lagos, Nigeria. www.cshenvironmental.co.uk


• PICTURED left is Mark Slade the late Patricia Slade, Caron Slade, and Terry Slade, in 2002 (l-r).


The three trucks above were part of the company's original 1980s fl eet, when the company thrived from a small start-up.


16 SHM February, 2018 www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk


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