I entered the industry full time in 1965 and have been involved at all levels and all fields within the business. Bywaters has been an early adopter of new ideas and new technology on a continuous basis from 1952 until today.
Being family owned and also owning our own premises and facilities we have the ability to respond without delay to the ever changing market. In recent years many companies have come and gone in our industry when “theory” overtook “practicality”. Many of the leaders of the industry today are very well educated but find it hard to get a grip on what is going on at grassroots level. We still have that connection and I am still at the helm.
I sometimes call myself “Amazon Man” because that is how I do my shopping and I enjoy receiving prompt and efficient service. I am such a big customer Amazon has moved in next door to us at Bow. I also call myself “Mr Sustainability” and reinforce the facts that health and safety, the environment, finance, and customer support are inextricably linked.
Support
The industry has had very poor support from government over the last ten years, despite the industry supporting the government. Investment in infrastructure has not been supported and the business rating system causes organisations to seek minimalistic rather than adequate facilities. We back the industry with our own money and our own resources. Others jump in, perhaps to make a quick buck, get it wrong and in one case alone lose more than £22 million. Although the GLA and TfL have carried out some very good works money has not gone into our industry in the right places.
However, Sir Brian Souter of Stagecoach told me that the new West Ham bus garage had cost the public purse £43 million. With 10% of that we could have created more than 100 jobs and really increased “sustainability” for local authorities and commercial firms. Bring back the proximity principle and save local authorities criss-crossing London with waste and recyclables.
The very recent BBC TV and newspaper articles that have involved the ESA and WRAP firmly illustrate that those at the top have, sadly, not got a grip or understanding of what has actually been building up over the last six years. Most contamination is from totally wrong material being put into the recycling, not a single squashed banana in the commingled material!
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