MVO Articles
The Style Council
What are the big issues facing our industry? Growing concern over the impact on local residents? Achieving greater utilisation? The need for a more business-like approach? During a visit to Countrystyle Recycling, Malcolm Bates discovers something else - a pride in being innovative
Let's cut right through all the PC stuff. In the real world of hard knocks, people are not equal. We are not all the same. For a start, while half the population sits around whingeing about "not being given a fair chance in life", the rest are creating new opportunities or working to make our world a better place. Am I right?
We might not agree about "people", but we can hopefully agree that commercial companies are even less equal. For a start, the politically-induced split between public sector waste collection and disposal - to create a new market for the big commercial interests - has turned out rather differently than the architects of the policy intended. But that's not the story here.
The story here is how what started out as diversification by a farmer has become an example of how to grow a company in the waste and recycling sector. From scratch. This is all the more interesting because this company was not given a wad of publicly funded contracts and a slice of infrastructure for nothing, as many commercial waste contractors were. Nor did it grow by being an aggressive predator in taking over smaller competitors either.
You see, what is so brilliant about Countrystyle Recycling is that the company, founded in 2004 by Trevor Heathcote, has not whinged about "the lack of business opportunities" or "lobbied" politicians for an inside track to a fast buck. And while I'm sure that Trevor could have retired a rich man by selling out to a multinational PLC several times over, he and his team have, instead, created an operation that can stand comparison with any in the UK.
That in itself is a good news story but the way it has all come together is even better. And for those who think that previous UK government policy has gifted our entire waste and recycling infrastructure to a multinational PLC "mafia", well, read on, because there's more good news...
Come On Down
My invitation to pay a return visit to Ridham Dock on the Swale (the channel of water between the Isle of Sheppy and Kent) came from Trevor himself during Futuresource back in June. "Yeah, sure," I said, wondering what could possibly make it worth going back to Kent again to see a site - and a company -
I'd already covered in a waste equipment magazine article back in June 2007.
However, many things in Britain have changed over the last two years, and mostly for the worse, so I was in for a shock when I swung into the eight-acre site at Ridham Dock. The site was unrecognisable from the dusty, potholed and entirely "typical" yard I'd visited two years ago. Back then I'd called to see Trevor in his rundown portable cabin office with Jan Lumley of Multilift. Countrystyle was about to become the first UK operator for the new Multilift XR-series hooklifts. At least, it would be, as soon as Trevor and Jan had stopped arguing about the price! Sensing my whole story was in jeopardy, I had to help Jan convince Trevor that he could expect significant operational advantages over his existing units by going for the XRs, before I could even start on my interview!
Back then a dozen 360s and wheeled loaders of assorted makes and models were busy sorting recyclable materials out in the yard: demolition waste, waste wood, general mixed waste from builder's skip traffic, right through to specific contract waste from a leading manufacturer of insulation and dry lining products. Yes, it was impressive. But state-of-the-art? Er, no.
What I'm now looking at is something else. Instead of the potholes and the portable cabins (I'm not allowed to call it a port-a-cabin because that's a trademark, by the way!), I'm looking at two new buildings and a wide expanse of flat concrete hardstanding. There's not a pothole in sight. The largest building is the materials reception and rehandling building and the second is part of the new in-vessel composting facility.
By the time you read this, there's a good chance some minor Royal, or retired colonel with pips on his shoulders, will have declared the whole site open. The whole exercise cost around £4.2m and it has already achieved BSI PAS 100 certification (for 0-40mm material).
Some things have stayed the same, however, and a good example is technical director, Niall Cormac-Walshe. We first met on my original visit and although he's been through the wars a bit, Niall seems as enthusiastic as ever. He smiles at my suggestion that it is not the large urban waste authorities -
or even the multinational waste industry PLCs - that are showing the way ahead in our industry at present, but the smaller, privately-owned and managed waste companies; the ones that employ local labour; have links in the communities they serve; and help put money back into local economies by generating wealth and spin-off services. Companies, I suggest, such as Countrystyle Recycling. He nods and takes my bait…
"We feel very strongly that what we do should benefit our neighbours. Even though Ridham Dock is well away from residential development, we've still had to meet some stringent planning requirements. But I think all agencies involved recognised that we were trying to improve the way in which waste is handled and processed in south east England, while providing employment," he says. And he's right - large operations with Institutional shareholders tend to be too cautious to do anyone else any good, surely?
Waste Into Product
Niall confirms that the landfill tax has been a blessing in disguise as it has actually provided an incentive to invest, which the architects of the tax never expected - even if they claim otherwise now. "To us, the legislation is an opportunity. It enabled us to ask 'What else can we do with waste?' and while we're still busy getting the new facility up-to-speed in terms of recycling ratios, I'm convinced the next stage for our industry is to investigate the conversion of waste materials directly into a branded product, or a fuel source. Certainly compost is just about there as a branded product already, but as we're also involved with plasterboard, insulation materials and demolition waste, the possibilities are almost endless," he suggests. "Oh, and by the way," he adds, "all the fill for the redevelopment of this site was recycled - which not only saved the company money that was then invested elsewhere, but it saved hundreds of truck movements on Kent's roads, as well as cutting down on diesel consumption." So far, so impressive, then?
During my last visit, Trevor Heathcote was just beginning to think about making the massive leap (in expenditure terms) from green waste shredding to full in-vessel facilities with the inclusion of food waste. At that time - leaving aside the need to step-up both plant and labour work patterns to cover a 24/7 operation, 363 days a year - one of the big "unknowns" was how food waste might be collected and transported to the proposed site, as neither compaction RCVs nor hooklift skips are the ideal tool for the job. But now it's been built…?
"At present, we have contracts with several local authorities in Kent to take their food waste but, as the facility expands, we'll have to look at wider options," Niall explains. One of those (the identity of which, contractually, must stay confidential) involves the shipping of sealed hooklift containers into the site during off-peak periods. But the availability of reasonably-priced totally leachate-proof satellite units on 7 to 12-tonne truck chassis brings with it the possibility of taking control and presenting a positive marketing opportunity worth looking into. It could be that Countrystyle operates a fleet of dedicated food waste collection units, "branding" and franchising them out to local businesses - or even to self-employed drivers. It could be the best thing to come out of the change to bi-weekly council collections.
Taking Control
There is a huge incentive for any in-vessel site operator to take control of the collection process to ensure the facility is fed at optimum levels, and there's no doubt that while many local authorities, education bodies and hospital trusts would like to instigate a dedicated food waste collection service, far fewer have the actual resources (or operational experience) to implement it. A completely outsourced contract could be ideal.
So will it happen? And what else will the future bring? Niall Cormac-Walshe; business development director, Mat Stewart; and site operations manager, Andy Sibley; all agree that an "up for it" approach is a key factor in Countrystyle Recycling winning the kinds of added value contracts it needs in order to succeed in such a competitive business climate.
In contrast to the assortment of plant I saw during my last visit, today it's very much a case of using new, good quality kit - with two new JCB telehandlers, a pair of wheeled loaders (also from JCB) and a new Willibald shredder having recently been added to the fleet.
Job done? So it seems, but before I leave, Niall hits me with two other ideas I hadn't seen coming. Firstly, on the "branding" issue, he and Mat are now actively seeking to negotiate long-term waste collection "partnership" contracts from large retail parks with a guaranteed audited recycling ratio that may be part of a planning requirement or, at the very least, can be used to promote an environmental awareness. The Fremlins Walk shopping complex in nearby Maidstone is an example of this, with a target recycling requirement of, wait for it, 98 percent.
And how about this for a bit of lateral thinking? Green waste is very bulky and therefore takes up a lot of space at customers' premises. The trucks sent to collect it are basically carrying fresh air (well, "air" anyway) and have the same carbon footprint as a loaded-to-gross rig. The Countrystyle Recycling solution? "If possible, it makes sense to shred the green waste material locally and truck it in processed, thus ensuring we carry a more economic load," Mat explains. "To do that, we've now put the first three Komptech mobile shredders - and all the other kit needed to undertake this operation - into a mobile taskforce service that is available (with labour) for hire." It's a great idea.
What will our waste and recycling industry look like in 2020? That's a tough question, but a trip down to Ridham Dock might give you a pretty good idea.
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