From Rubbish to Revenue: How Smart Waste Management Saves You Money

Written by Nick Towens

Key Findings

• Recycling cuts costs dramatically: By diverting waste from landfill, businesses can slash disposal fees whilst turning recyclable materials into revenue streams
• Efficient soil testing saves thousands: Proper waste characterisation prevents unnecessary hazardous waste charges and identifies cost-effective treatment options
• Smart construction planning reduces waste: Bespoke waste management plans can cut material costs by up to 40% through reuse and on-site sorting
• Weighbridge services eliminate middlemen: Direct waste disposal and material purchase removes contractor markups, reducing operational expenses
• Environmental permits unlock alternatives: CL:AIRE Protocols provide cheaper alternatives to traditional permitting routes

Waste management isn’t just an operational necessity; it’s a financial opportunity that most businesses overlook.

Across the UK, companies throw away approximately £1.2 billion worth of materials annually that could be recycled, recovered or reused.

Every skip you fill and every tonne you send to landfill represents a potential cost saving waiting to be unlocked.

At Towens, we’ve spent over 25 years proving that treating waste as a valuable resource rather than a burden transforms your bottom line. With landfill taxes continuing to rise and new materials becoming more expensive, effective waste management isn’t just environmentally responsible, it’s financially essential for building a sustainable future.

What are the environmental benefits of smart waste management?

Smart waste management delivers substantial cost savings, but the environmental advantages create equally compelling business value. Companies prioritising sustainable practices gain competitive advantage as supply chains increasingly demand environmental credentials. Here’s what proper waste management achieves:

• Reduces carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites and material transportation
• Conserves natural resources by recovering recyclable materials instead of extracting virgin materials or relying on fossil fuels
• Prevents water pollution through proper disposal of waste including hazardous waste and liquid waste
• Protects human health by ensuring different types of waste are handled safely
• Supports the circular economy by keeping waste materials in productive use and creating new products
• Tackles climate change by reducing waste generation and environmental impact across business operations

Business owners know that commercial relationships increasingly depend on demonstrated environmental commitment. Local authorities and major contractors require suppliers to prove their duty of care credentials. We’ve watched clients win new contracts specifically because their commercial waste management practices proved their commitment to reducing environmental impact.

How smart waste management saves your business money

Efficient waste management practices transform disposal of waste from a cost centre into a value generator. As a waste management company with over 25 years’ experience, we’ve identified the most effective waste management methods that deliver tangible financial benefits.

Recycling: turning waste into revenue

We process over 100,000 tonnes of solid waste annually at our management facilities, recycling or reusing 85.55% of materials including plasterboard, scrap metal, plastic, hardcore, aggregate and soils. Rather than paying landfill waste charges, businesses can significantly reduce waste disposal costs through effective waste management.

Many recyclable materials carry actual value. Scrap metal generates revenue rather than costs. Properly sorted construction waste avoids contamination charges and creates new materials for reuse. Following the waste hierarchy principles, we prioritise prevention, reuse and recycling, with disposal as a last resort.

The amount of general waste you divert from landfill directly impacts your waste disposal bills. With our four recycling facilities across Somerset, we’ve helped businesses significantly reduce commercial waste management costs simply by treating waste materials as valuable resources. Energy recovery processes materials that can’t be recycled through thermal treatment at high temperatures, with only 8% requiring landfill as a last resort.

Weighbridge services: eliminating unnecessary costs

Our waste transfer station with a fully calibrated weighbridge allows businesses to dispose of commercial waste directly, cutting out expensive collection services and contractor markups. If you hold a waste carriers licence, you can bring business waste straight to our Weston-super-Mare site, where it is responsibly managed and recycled.

You control timing and volume rather than paying for scheduled collections you may not need. You purchase materials like recycled type one (£30 per tonne), road plannings (£22 per tonne) and crushed concrete (£18 per tonne) directly without distributor margins. These recycled aggregates cost significantly less than new materials whilst delivering comparable performance.

The facility accepts everything from green waste and clean wood to plasterboard and tyres. This flexibility means one site handles multiple waste streams whilst ensuring your duty of care obligations are met.

Soil testing: avoiding expensive disposal mistakes

Mischaracterised soil costs businesses thousands in unnecessary hazardous waste disposal fees. Our environmental consultancy services collect soil samples from your site and send them to accredited laboratories for testing.

We routinely identify soil previously assumed to be hazardous waste that actually qualifies for standard disposal rates, or even beneficial reuse. Our expertise in bioremediation at our waste treatment hubs means we can suggest treatment options that transform disposal costs into resource recovery opportunities, keeping valuable resources in circulation.

Given that hazardous waste disposal can cost 10 times more than standard waste, proper characterisation delivers immediate savings whilst ensuring compliance with environmental protection legislation and your duty of care responsibilities.

Construction: strategic waste planning

Our bespoke waste management plans for construction clients can significantly reduce material costs through strategic planning. Traditional construction generates enormous waste generation, but our approach creates less waste from the outset.

We work across three phases: development of waste reduction objectives and zero waste targets where feasible, implementation of on-site sorting infrastructure and ongoing management with continuous improvement. This structured waste management method ensures every tonne of solid waste is considered a potential resource.

Unlike the traditional approach where each contractor manages waste independently, we consider the whole project, reusing materials where possible and applying locality-based solutions to reduce transportation costs and associated carbon dioxide emissions. Our integrated approach minimises redundancy and maximises resource recovery, turning construction waste into new materials for immediate reuse.

Permits & CL:AIREs: alternative compliance routes

The Definition of Waste: Code of Practice (CL) provides a process for reusing excavated materials without requiring environmental permits. For projects involving clean naturally occurring soil materials, this eliminates permitting costs entirely whilst supporting efficient waste management.

Our environmental teams identify when alternatives like CL protocols apply, potentially saving thousands in permitting fees and months in approval timeframes with local authorities. Combined with our in-house civil and environmental engineering expertise and large vehicle fleet, we offer complete sustainable packages without expensive third-party sub-contractors.

Frequently asked questions

How much waste can Towens actually divert from landfill?

We achieve 92% diversion rates across our management facilities, with 85.55% recycled or reused and 6.40% sent to energy recovery. Only 8% reaches landfill as a last resort, well below industry averages.

What types of waste does Towens handle?

We accept commercial waste, industrial waste, construction waste, green waste, food waste, plasterboard, wood, scrap metal, hardcore, soil, cardboard, electrical items and tyres across our four recycling facilities and waste transfer station.

Do you provide waste management services for small businesses?

Absolutely. Our customers range from nuclear power plants to local contractors, builders and homeowners. We tailor commercial waste management solutions to your business size and requirements.

How does your waste management company help businesses meet their duty of care?

As a licensed waste management company, we provide full documentation and traceability for all disposal of waste, ensuring you meet your legal duty of care obligations. Our management facilities hold all necessary permits and our processes comply with local authorities’ requirements.

Can waste management really help our business achieve zero waste goals?

Whilst true zero waste remains challenging, our waste management method helps businesses dramatically reduce waste generation. Through strategic planning, efficient waste management and treating materials as valuable resources rather than general waste, we help clients move closer to zero waste targets whilst building a sustainable future.

Who are Towens?

We’re a family-owned recycling, waste management and environmental services business with over 30 years’ experience across Somerset and the South-West. From our base in Weston-super-Mare, we handle well over a million tonnes of waste and recycled aggregates annually.

Our services include skip hire, soil and aggregate haulage, equipment rental, recycling facilities, environmental consultancy, soil testing, construction waste management and civils contracts. With four recycling facilities and a fleet of over 40 vehicles, we transport and process waste with over 90% recycled or reused.

Our objective remains consistent: recycle or reuse as much waste as possible with minimum going to landfill, delivering both environmental and financial benefits to businesses across the region whilst supporting local authorities in achieving sustainability targets.

Ready to turn your waste into savings? Call us on 01934 424242, email skips@towens.co.uk or fill out our online form to discuss how smart waste management can improve your bottom line whilst supporting your sustainability goals.