News in brief | CIWM Commercial Partner Updates 28 July

News updates written by CIWM’s commercial partners.

WasteRecruit | What personality works in waste? Personality Assessment launched to promote green skills.

Businesses are starting to realise that sustainability is not just a tick box item. There is a real opportunity to reduce costs and build resilience, while at the same time, softening their nature footprint. The challenge is finding the green skills to fill the gap.

In an ideal world, businesses would like to hire people who understand their industry but also have the knowledge and understanding of how to implement circular economy principles. Professionals who understand the complexities of initiating systems change, who can communicate well, and who are passionate about seeing change implemented.

Finding people with the drive, ability and passion for sustainability is a vital component of closing the green skills gap. Technical skills can be learned quickly, expertise can be adapted from one industry sector to another, but the ability to influence change comes down to personality.

Currently, the majority of companies have failed to meet their sustainability targets. A lack of green skills and leadership focus are poor excuses, and companies are starting to realise the cost. Material costs are increasing. Insurance companies are warning that risks may become uninsurable. The incentive for change is growing stronger, and closing the green skills gap will only be possible if companies can find the right personalities to lead the way.

Behaviour, attitude and skills

What sustainable change looks like is a major unknown for most companies. It could be viewed as a risk, which is why finding the right people to lead and implement change is important. Managers may be able to introduce new policies, but can they influence attitudes of operational workers? Can they get them to understand why the changes are necessary and why it will benefit them?

Equally, for candidates who want to expand their green skills, knowing where their strengths lie can indicate what type of roles they’d be suited to. It can also open up opportunities that they may not have considered before.

The personality assessment is a method to assess and evaluate an individual’s personality traits and characteristics.  There is no right or wrong answer, candidates are encouraged to respond instinctively when rating themselves against the various statements presented to them.

The assessment takes 25 to 30 minutes to complete, and the results are measured against a relevant comparison group. It highlights behavioural preferences, interests, and talents and provides an objective assessment of individual strengths and therefore the sorts of roles and environments where they are more likely to flourish.

The personality assessment has been built around an industry specific competency framework and will have industry specific comparison groups. This delivers results that are more relevant and meaningful. The measure has been built on 15 years of knowledge and understanding of the industry. Combining the personality assessment with the competency framework, it will be possible to contrast candidate personality reports with competency interview performance.

“This all leads to better and more accurate decision making – better hires lead to better performance and reduced turnover.” Ben Eva – Business Psychologist, WasteRecruit

The future of green skills development

If green skills are what companies are banking on to improve operational efficiency and profitability, assessing a combination of skills, behaviour, and attitudes is a critical element. Personality traits drive operational efficiency and profitability even more than skills. For example: Being able to assess risks and understand important aspects of Health and Safety, can be the difference between a necessary or unnecessary system shut down – which impacts operational down time, output and profitability.

Hiring success is built by a combination of skills and behaviour. But the difference between someone who is good at their job and someone who is great, primarily comes down to attitude and actions on the job. Assessing personality is an essential part of developing green skills.

“The personality assessment is an industry specific tool that enables greater confidence in evidence-based recruitment decisions. Looking beyond recruitment, there are further opportunities in terms of training and development to gain even more value from the tools and competency framework. This is just the start of investing in green skills development through industry benchmarking, enabling meaningful insights by sector and/or function in the process.” – Ben Eva – Business Psychologist, WasteRecruit.

For queries contact Nick Eva, MD at WasteRecruit on phone: 01252 353 080 or email: nick@wasterecruit.com.

Plan B | Plan B secures Bridgend contract extension

Plan B Management Solutions Limited (Plan B) has been awarded a 15 month extension to its waste and recycling service with Bridgend County Borough Council (Council).

The extension will begin when the existing contract with Plan B was due to come to an end on 31 March 2026.

The extension will allow further time for the Council to bring its waste and recycling service back in-house where it will be managed internally by the local authority.

The current contract has seen Plan B manage Bridgend’s waste and recycling collection services since April 2024 which includes kerbside collections from households and businesses, management of three household community recycling centres (CRCs), the Tondu waste transfer station, and the sale of the contract materials.

The contract represented the company’s first collection contract in the UK and follows on from their previous involvement in Bridgend where it had already been providing management services for the incumbent contractor.

Plan B said that through its partnership approach, it has supported the Council in its ambitions to remain the top local authority in Wales for recycling. Bridgend holds top spot with a recycling rate of 73%, having increased its performance by 17% over the last decade and 2% since 2023.

Plan B undertakes over c.5.5m collections from households and businesses each year and collects approximately 30,000 tonnes of recyclable materials from the kerbside and CRC sites each year on behalf of the Council. The contract has delivered performance improvements that include a 22% reduction in crew complaints and missed collections down by 25% since September 2024.

In addition, Plan B has supported the local community through a number of initiatives including delivering over 7,200 items to local food banks in Bridgend and use of volunteering days to support the Ogmore River Clean as part of our social value commitments.

“Plan B is delighted to have been awarded the Bridgend waste and recycling contract extension and we look forward to working closely with the Council for a further 15 months” says Maz Akhtar, Managing Director at Plan B. “I would like to thank our Bridgend workforce who work tirelessly to deliver high quality services for residents and businesses in Bridgend.”

Nuclear Waste Services | From Atoms to Ambitions: NWS leads hands-on STEM outreach

Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) has been offering its support and guidance to young people through a series of STEM outreach events around the country, working with its potential employees, community leaders and decision makers of the future.

STEM outreach focuses on initiatives designed to engage young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

NWS took part in the Science and Careers fair in St Nicholas Gardens in Whitehaven, working in partnership with Sellafield Ltd and Whitehaven Town Council to plan and deliver a two-day programme focused on innovation, scientific curiosity and community engagement.

NWS also recently ran a three-day work experience to its Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) site in Cumbria for a group of students aged 18 to 24.

Tracy Badham, NWS’s Social Responsibility Manager, said: “The amazing young people we work with are often lacking in opportunities; it was a pleasure to work alongside them.

“We introduced them to our environmental work across the LLWR that underpins the work of NWS, as well as a range of other careers across the company. It gave the students a chance to meet experienced scientists rather than just reading about them in school textbooks.”

In addition to spending time with Martin Walkingshaw, NWS Chief Operating Officer, to learn about NWS’ operations, the group studied the organisation’s environmental protection work and were helped with CV writing and interview skills.

Brandon Lee Hudson-Williams was one of the young people to join the visit and plans to begin degree studies in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation at the University of Cumbria in September.

He said: “This opportunity has helped me massively. It was fascinating to learn how future waste can be managed, which is a good foundation for my career.”

“The staff were fully professional and accommodating. I thank the team for accepting me so professionally.”

Last month, NWS, with other representatives from across the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group, came together to talk to young people about careers on offer in the sector at the Big Bang Fair 2025. Big Bang was held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham hosting 30,000 school age students from across the country.

Thomas Hogan, Communications Graduate at NWS, said: “Representing NWS and the NDA group at the Big Bang Fair was an incredible opportunity to show the nuclear professionals of tomorrow the work of today, and the future.

“I feel very lucky to have had the chance to share with attendees the vast variety of opportunities to work in nuclear that I was personally unaware of at their age.”

Greyparrot | New Greyparrot report asks 20 packaging leaders about circular design hurdles

Every yoghurt pot, water bottle or crisp packet arriving at a recycling facility is the result of decisions made long before it reaches the bin. But who makes those decisions, and how do they balance commercial demands with sustainability goals?

The Packaging Mindset, a recently-released report from Greyparrot, seeks to answer those questions. The report identifies the challenges standing in the way of circularity, gathering interviews with 20 packaging and sustainability leaders and insight from the company’s own analysts.

Listening to the people behind packaging decisions

Over five months, Greyparrot interviewed senior professionals across food, beverage, beauty and luxury sectors, representing businesses with a combined revenue of $268 billion.

Across those industries, a theme emerged: participants said that technical constraints and commercial targets clash with growing pressure to meet environmental goals. Fortunately, most also acknowledged that practical steps towards circularity are gaining momentum.

Packaging leaders themselves are certainly aware of the need for more recyclable packaging. Of the participants featured in The Packaging Mindset:

• 98% saw extended producer responsibility (EPR) and new regulations as critical drivers of change.
• 90% had visited a materials recovery facility (MRF).

The Greyparrot team say that increased engagement with post-consumption packaging reflects regulation’s growing impact — and shows that packaging leaders have a commitment to understanding how design choices play out in real-world recovery facilities.

Six challenges on the path to circularity

From balancing recyclability with performance to aligning internal targets with shifting policy landscapes, the findings reveal that packaging professionals are navigating complex, conflicting, priorities.

The report highlights six common challenges that emerged repeatedly in both interviews, and a review of over 50 academic papers:

• End-of-life regulation
• Cost constraints
• Balancing sustainability and branding
• Consumer perception
• Rigid infrastructure
• Data deficiency

The Packaging Mindset includes direct quotes and in-depth analysis on each challenge, which Greyparrot’s team says will “shed a light on how leaders are tackling these barriers, and where opportunities for collaboration with the waste sector currently lie.”

The Deepnest Compass: A practical tool for packaging teams

To translate the findings from the The Packaging Mindset to real-world collaboration, Greyparrot have also created the “Deepnest Compass” — named after their recently-launched platform for brands and packaging producers.

The compass is a practical tool that translates the questions raised in the report into a guide for decision-making. It was designed to help cross-company teams weigh up technical, commercial and environmental factors together, keeping post-consumption performance front of mind.

The company has said that the report’s insights will help more businesses spark constructive discussions around packaging design, recovery and circularity.

They welcome perspectives from the waste sector, which they believe will benefit from packaging that is designed with recovery in mind.

Download the full Packaging Mindset report here.

Vision Techniques | Vision Techniques introduce new Managed Service to make access to CCTV footage easier

Commercial Vehicle Safety and Security specialists, Vision Techniques, announced their all new Managed Service this month.

The new Remote CCTV Footage Download Service is designed to make CCTV footage access easier, faster and more efficient, without the need for physical access to your system.

It allows you to request recorded footage from compatible devices with Vision Techniques in house team handling the retrieval of footage on your behalf – securely and remotely.

There are two options customers can choose from including Pay As You Go which covers an up to 15 minute continuous segment for up to four cameras or there is the option of a monthly subscription.

Within the subscription customers can benefit from live remote camera viewing access, from two download service requests per vehicle per year, requests can be pooled across fleets, remote training and login setup as well as a monthly health exception report highlighting suspected camera faults, hard drive issues and devices offline for more than five days.

The Managed Service went live on July 1 and is already proving to be popular.

Vision Techniques Managing Director Dave Smith said: “We are so happy to introduce our new Managed Service to current and future customers.

“We have hundreds of customers with thousands of vehicles with connected devices using VT Connect, allowing for remote access and video downloading, and we know that it can sometimes be difficult for our customers to monitor the health of their systems to ensure the data is available when needed.

“At Vision Techniques, we want our customers to get the best out of the systems we supply them, this is why we launched our managed services.

“This service is being offered free of charge to customers that have connected devices using VT Connect, and is just another way Vision Techniques is supporting customers to ensure they get the best out of the system.

“We have had great feedback so far, with many finding this service invaluable.”

To find out more about the new Managed Service, go to: https://www.vision-techniques.com/managed-services/

To enable this service, complete the onboarding form here.

Contel | Contel Celebrates 8 Years at the Forefront of Fleet Safety and Compliance Technology

Contel, a leading UK provider of fleet safety, security and compliance solutions, is celebrating its 8th year in business, marking nearly a decade of innovation, growth, and commitment to helping fleet operators work safer and smarter.

Since 2017, Contel has supported local authorities, waste contractors, and logistics companies across the UK with advanced vehicle tracking, live camera systems, driver behaviour analytics, and compliance management tools. What sets the business apart is its “service before sales” ethos – a core value that has earned the trust of clients nationwide.

“From day one, our focus has been on delivering exceptional customer care,” says Andy Kelly, Co-CEO & Founder of Contel. “We don’t just sell our systems – we work closely with every client to understand their challenges and deliver tailored solutions that genuinely make a difference.”

As the waste and fleet industries become increasingly data-driven, Contel continues to lead with smart, forward-thinking solutions. Most recently, the team has been working on the development and integration of AI-powered camera technology, designed to enhance driver safety, automate incident detection, and improve operational oversight in real time.

This move reflects a broader shift in the sector towards more intelligent technologies, capable of supporting proactive risk management – an area where Contel is determined to stay ahead of the curve.

Andy Kelly adds: “AI is reshaping how we monitor and manage fleets. We’re excited to be at the forefront of this evolution, helping our clients harness intelligent tools that improve safety, compliance and accountability across the board.”

With a reputation for reliability and a strong client base that spans both public and private sectors, Contel is well-positioned for continued growth. As the business marks its 8th birthday, the team is already looking to the future, with new partnerships, platform upgrades, and customer support innovations on the horizon.

Reflecting on the past 8 years, Andy Kelly says, “It’s certainly been an incredible journey so far, and I am very excited about the future. We have some exciting collaborations coming soon, and we couldn’t do any of it without the team we are building and all our fantastic partners and clients. Many thanks to everyone who has supported Contel since 2017.”

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