Mick Gumble, regional general manager – South Central at Biffa, discusses how retailers in the region can help achieve the aims set out in the Government’s 25-year Environment Plan – and lifts the lid on the untapped potential for plastic recyclables and energy from waste.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Theresa May set out her 25-year Environment Plan, with a target to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Retailers and grocers were called upon to reduce plastic packaging and introduce ‘plastics-free’ aisles, alongside other proposals designed to help preserve and improve the environment.

But what is retailers’ role in achieving these targets – and are they even achievable? Will they really help alleviate the many million tonnes of waste we need to manage in the UK, or do we need to look at the bigger picture?

Currently, the UK will not meet its target of 50% recycling of household waste by 2020. Rates have plateaued at around 43-45% since 2011.

The Government has proposed several potential measures to reduce plastics, including a tax or levy system to address single-use plastics; making packaging easier to recycle; and potential reforms of Producer Responsibility systems. This would bring England and Northern Ireland more in line with the approach in Scotland and Wales, where separate collection compliance responsibilities fall on the waste producer, rather than the collector. Service providers like Biffa then collect and sort the materials.

Innovations such as polymer recycling facilities help ensure plastics are diverted from landfill and upgraded. Our highly advanced polymers facility has reprocessed more than 3 billion plastic bottles – so the potential here is huge.

Retailers can help by pushing consumer demand for reduced plastic packaging. Many already have their own-brand products made from sustainable materials with packaging using recycled (and recyclable) content. However, this approach really needs to extend throughout the supply chain.

Of course, retail waste isn’t just plastics. Inedible food waste is another untapped resource when it comes to diverting waste from landfill. Our recent ‘Food for Fuel’ campaign was launched following research revealing that inedible food waste makes up 40% of the UK’s total food wastage, yet one-third of food businesses admit to doing nothing to recycle it.

There are many initiatives in place to re-use edible food, with supermarkets including Sainsbury’s and Tesco donating it to local charities and community groups, but inedible food waste often falls off the radar.

biffa.co.uk

This is the kind of food which may be left by café and restaurant diners such as plate scrapings, or food past its sell-by date. Much of this food waste is not disposed of effectively, resulting in a massive percentage of potential energy being thrown away. However, a process called anaerobic digestion can convert inedible food waste into a form of green energy which can be exported to the National Grid.

Surprisingly, there is currently no legislation in England and Wales that makes recycling food waste mandatory for businesses[i], meaning huge volumes are treated as general waste, with much going to landfill.

Our campaign encourages businesses to pledge to segregate all inedible food waste, irrespective of weight, so this can be used to generate energy, rather than going to landfill.

Surprisingly, our research found businesses often do not realise that general waste is more expensive to dispose of – and that separating food waste will help to lower waste disposal costs. Food waste disposal can cost up to 70% less than residual waste and so it makes economic sense to segregate it and arrange separate collection.

These are just a handful of the issues mentioned in the Environment Plan, but there is still much detail needed in the more comprehensive resource and waste strategy being produced by DEFRA, to be released later this year.

Retailers will undoubtedly be affected by this report, which will include a detailed analysis of the current waste landscape and outline legislative commitment to improvement, particularly in the post-Brexit era from March 2019.

We look forward to working with our retail partners to continue to help shape the UK waste agenda, to continue to innovate and maximise recycling in this sector, with a view to diverting more waste from landfill and striving for the vision of a circular economy. 

To celebrate its 25th anniversary of leading corporate finance deals, HMT is reminiscing on 10 notable transactions from its archives. Having completed over 500 deals, producing a shortlist of 10 has not been easy but the MBO of Property Software Group led by CEO Mark Goddard has certainly made the list.

Part of Guardian Media Group, GMG Property Services, was created in 2006 and quickly became the UK’s largest supplier of software, technology and design solutions to the property industry.

With the arrival of new technologies, Mark Goddard, who joined GMG at its very beginning, saw an opportunity to consolidate the business from a desktop player to a SaaS business.

Goddard decided to lead an MBO process to acquire the business from Guardian Media Group in order to realise his ambitious plan. The management buyout was supported by private equity firm LDC who introduced HMT to the transaction as due diligence providers. In December 2013, the management team led by Goddard and LDC acquired GMG for £17.8 million and the company rebranded under the name, Property Software Group.

LDC and the management team started their plan to consolidate the market and transition from a desktop-based to a SaaS business, with a series of acquisitions. Goddard had been very impressed with HMT’s ability to understand the business and attention to detail during the MBO process. He decided to appoint HMT again to advise on the bolt-on acquisition of estate agency software system Jupix which was a “transformational deal” for Property Software Group.

At the beginning of 2016, Zoopla showed interest in the business. A few months later, LDC, Goddard and the management team sold The Property Software Group to property giant Zoopla plc (now ZPG plc) for £75m creating a great return on investment for all shareholders.

Following the disposal of Property Software Group, Goddard started a new role at ZPG and is now in charge of software and portal operations. ZPG continues to grow by making a series of acquisitions.

hmtllp.com

The Business Magazine launched the Southern Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year award at April’s annual Southern Manufacturing 100 dinner. Guest speakers from Cranfield University and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) talked about bridging the skills gap, while Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the Formula 1 group, offered an insight into electric vehicle production.

Right skills at the right time

Describing the apprenticeship levy as many manufacturer’s ‘elephant in the room’, Christian Warden, head of skills development at the MTC, talked about the challenges businesses face trying to match competencies with future needs.

“The levy has been in place for over a year, but many companies still don’t know what they are doing with it,” he said. “In five years’ time, 16-18 year olds will probably account for only around 20% of apprentices. People in their 50s and 60s will be as important. The MTC is looking at end-to-end solutions through to retirement, with apprenticeships from level 2 to level 7.”

Dr Claudiu Giusca, senior lecturer in sensor technology for precision in-process measurement at Cranfield University, agreed with Warden that training providers needed to bridge the gap between new technological developments and how they can be used effectively in manufacturing. Cranfield provides post-graduate qualifications.

He said that only a small proportion of SMEs currently have links with universities and he invited businesses to liaise with Cranfield to discuss what science and engineering skills would meet their strategic goals.

Giusca also highlighted a lack of clarity on how the UK’s industrial strategy can be translated effectively at a local level. “It’s a question of long-term versus short-term objectives,” he noted.

Racing ahead

Paul McNamara, technical director at Williams Advanced Engineering, described the company’s innovative manufacturing developments in electric vehicles and aerodynamics. It supplies all the batteries for Formula E, as well as operating the Jaguar Formula E team. Next year, Aston Martin is due to launch a Williams-powered high-performance electric road car.

“A huge change is going to hit us in the next 10 to 15 years that will have a big impact on manufacturers involved with internal combustion engine vehicles,” said McNamara. “The UK has to be able to respond.”

Williams’ campus in Grove, Oxfordshire, features 15 additive manufacturing centres, two wind tunnels and two F1 simulators. It writes its own hardware and software, and has 15 3D printers operating almost round-the-clock, mainly creating tools for carbon fibre manufacturing. As well as turning out six Formula 1 cars every season, it produces an impressive range of advanced products that includes the lightweight Babypod used in NHS ambulances, and an aerodynamic bicycle raced by British paralympian Karen Darke.

Sainsbury’s recently announced the rollout of energy saving fridges equipped with technology co-developed by Williams to control air flow. Williams even has an Enterprise Investment Scheme with £20 million available to fund innovative start-up businesses.

Award information

If you would like more information about the Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year award, or would like to attend the private tour of the MTC on October 31, email Peter Laurie:

peter@elcot.co.uk

The Business Magazine combined with leading law firm Irwin Mitchell to host this roundtable of experienced business leaders at The Vineyard Hotel & Spa at Stockcross near Newbury.

The UK middle market is home to some of the world’s most dynamic and exciting businesses. Growth prospects look bright for businesses in this market space but there is no room for complacency in such an uncertain world and now is the time to power middle-market success, writes Paul Anthony, partner, RSM.

Welcome to a regular Solent 250 column, bringing together news about our annual campaign and the companies in our 250 listing.

• Clearvision, the software services company headquartered in Southampton, and number 202 in our Solent 250, has reported another year of record growth.

Turnover at Clearvision rose to more than £22 million at the end of 2017 (from £17.3m in its previous financial year) a 27% YOY increase. 

Founder and CEO Gerry Tombs attributes the significant growth to the continued trend for digital transformation across all business types and size, as well as Clearvision’s innovations and expansion into new areas, in particular its capability to take teams and technology to the cloud. The independently-owned business operates across five locations, with headquarters in Southampton, and employs 90 people.

In addition to maintaining strong relationships with existing clients, Clearvision gained more than 100 new clients in 2017, including Apple, Fox, Bentley, Blackberry, BT TV, Money Supermarket and Playtech Software.

Tombs added: “While we’ve enjoyed year-on-year growth as a business, this last financial year has been particularly strong for us and is set to continue.

“It’s widely accepted that software is empowering the world and almost all large corporations have now actually become software development companies. Software development has become instrumental to all business. 

“The speed of change, especially in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) space, means there is increasing demand for our breadth of services and skills to enable businesses to not only implement changes necessary to keep up in today’s digitalised world but to drive through innovation and stay ahead. The number of businesses calling on our expertise in hosting Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an upward trend that’s set to gather even more pace in the coming year.  

“While we work with businesses of all sizes, as an enterprise-certified Atlassian platinum solution partner we continue to attract large enterprises and the public sector – providing consultancy, technical implementation, hosting, training and support packages for JIRA, Confluence and the rest of the Atlassian stack.”

• Companies in the Solent 250 list meet on Monday March 19 for a private dinner at the Harbour Hotel, Ocean Village, Southampton. Special guest speaker will be renowned workplace consultant Kursty Groves.

Founded in 1993 the company – Elcot Media & Events – has grown to become the leading independent voice of business in the south – and one of the most active B2B networking and awards organisers in the region.

David Murray, founder and managing director, was recently interviewed by Sir John Madejski on his personal story, and the growth of the business over the years. Go here to listen to the interview, which was broadcast on Breeze FM.

Listen in on the interview here

He said: “We can indulge ourselves a little by looking back on our 25 years of success. But I also like to look forward – and in that respect, we have all sorts of exciting things happening – from a new Thames Valley Tech Awards, to the AIM 50, to plans for a special seminar looking at the next 25 years in Reading and the Thames Valley…..

“Standing still always means going backwards, so we are pleased to be growing our portfolio of events and activities. And as I write this, the latest magazine is a whopping 88-pages which I believe is our biggest ever. Onwards and upwards has always been our motto.”