As a third-generation family run business with over 70 years’ experience, here at Cawleys we truly care about our clients, our local community and delivering sustainable solutions that will benefit your business and the planet for generations to come.

That's why joining forces with a fellow family run business AJ Cycles with similar values to reliable service and valuing their local community was perfect for us. We were fortunate to go into their store for the afternoon and sit down with the owner Paul Scones, to ask them more about the key aspects they look for in an environmental recycling partner and what their goals are to further decarbonise their business over the coming years.

Q- What were some of the reasons that made you choose Cawleys?

A- Price and flexibility of collection schedules (sometimes we have a lot more waste than can be taken on our regular collections so we need to arrange additional ones – this is never a problem and is always done super quick)

Q- What’s most important in your choice of recycling partner, price / service / reliability / eco credentials

A- Probably service & reliability, we are not allowed to store combustible waste on site nor in the service yard where the waste bins are, so we are reliant on collections being made on time – our bins are mostly always refilled within a day or two of them being emptied!

Q- How do you hope our partnership will boost your environmental credentials?

We hope that as our business grows and develops that Cawleys will be able to continue to help us to be as carbon neutral as possible.

Q- How important is recycling to your business and why?

A- Recycling is extremely important to us as we do create a significant volume of recyclable waste, also, as we are in an industry that promotes being green the more we can do as an individual company to promote this, the better for our image and our industry.

Q- What are your goals for the future to further decarbonise/ environmentally friendly proof your business etc?

A- We really need to make the move to go ‘paperless’ – also, to get more people on bikes to reduce the number of cars on the road.

Q- How important do you think it is to your customers that you make moves to become more environmentally friendly?

A- Being in the ‘green’ industry that we are in it is extremely important to our customers that we are seen to lead the way in sustainability and to be as ‘eco-friendly’ as possible as these are at the core of what we do.

Q- Do you think cycling is a viable alternative to car travel and what would need to happen to make it more appealing to commuters? E.g. more cycle to work schemes/tax breaks/more cycle lanes etc.?

A- Definitely, in certain situations, i.e. for shorter commutes of around 20miles. With the rising popularity of electric bikes commuting by bike is now becoming more appealing and we are definitely seeing an increase in demand for this reason. More cycling infrastructure/greenways would be advantageous to commuting and would help with the appeal.

With COP26 concluding this week, lots of goals have been put in place for achieving ambitious net-zero goals and reducing emissions for the sake of our planet. At Cawleys we specialise in working with businesses to give waste streams new leases of life and to help reduce volumes of waste sent to landfill. If you'd like to get in contact about how we can help improve your waste streams click here :  https://www.cawleys.co.uk/contacts/