Phil Gudgeon, 42, has taken over running Cawleys, a £34 million business, this month, becoming Managing Director (MD) following a series of rapid promotions and successes for the company since he joined it in 2013.

As MD, Phil will become head of one of Luton’s largest employers and lead a board of seven which includes two generations of the Cawleys family.

The company made a decision to eschew landfill in favour of new technologies from the start of the 21st century.  By investing in its own ‘dirty’ Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) to process mixed waste streams it enabled the company to offer exceptionally high recycling rates for mixed general waste, while it pioneered the use of anaerobic digestion to tackle food waste in the retail sector, launching the trial service with Waitrose almost a decade ago.

Last year, Cawleys helped the first entire business area, Canary Wharf Estate, to be declared a ‘Clean Coffee Zone’ with its through-the-line coffee recycling service, and for all its business customers introduced a new system to tackle plastic waste management and clean waste streams called ‘Infinity.’

Phil has been instrumental in delivering efficiencies and innovation to the operational side of the business, introducing in-vehicle weighing and a route review which delivered over a million pounds in cost savings to the company. Phil was also the driving force behind the company becoming the first waste management business in the UK to join the DVSA Earned Recognition Scheme earlier this year.

“Having worked in many different waste management companies, I can honestly say that Cawleys is an exceptionally innovative business.  Decisions can be made quickly and cleanly, but are taken with a long term, generational perspective.  Waste management is all about protecting the future through what we do now, and I’m determined that we will continue to do our best in this respect on every front,” said Phil.

He continues:

“My priorities for the business are to become leaner and more efficient in terms of what we process. We must help our customers extract more value from their materials, and find more ways to use that material.  The values of customer service and care really do matter and I’ll continue to focus on this too.  It is a privilege to become the MD of Cawleys,” he concludes.

Jon Cawley, Chairman of Cawleys adds:

“Phil has proved himself a highly skilled leader and a great person to work with. He knows our  industry inside out, and cares deeply about the people and processes that we are all part of.  I’m delighted that he is taking over as MD of the business. We all are.  He is well liked and well respected; we’re lucky to have him.”