Women in Waste
Tell us a little about yourself?
I am 43year old mum to two very active boys and I live with them and my partner in a village in Northamptonshire. We are all heavily involved in grassroots football with both our boys playing and both me and my partner who coach our own teams. Because of my involvement in coaching, I decided to join in and joined a local women’s team this year which I enjoy more than I thought I would. My other loves in life are music and I go to as many music events and gigs as I can, I am also a keen paddle boarder, and I am lucky to be so close to the River Nene and can be on the river in around 10mins from my house.
I have enjoyed travelling in my early 20’s and spent a year exploring Australia and have been back a few times since. I like to think I bring a big smile and fun wherever I am and am usually the one making a bit of a fool of myself.
What was the first job you had when you left school
Apart from the small part time jobs I did, my first ‘real’ job, whilst I was studying my A levels I worked at McDonalds in my home town Hinckley, Leics. I didn’t carry on with the A Levels but carried on at McDonalds for a little while longer as it really suited me at the time, working with people my own age and I learned a great deal about accountability, team work and the customer experience.
Why you were interested in the waste sector
I guess I fell into the waste sector after taking a call from a recruiter who had seen my CV on a job board. I didn’t think much of it and went for the interview at what I knew to be the local ‘scrap yard’ that was part of a multi national waste management company. I had to take a good long think about it once I was offered the job as it really wasn’t very appealing but I could see that the depot wanted to improve and go places and I could join a strong team.
What made you pick Cawleys?
I had been at a large multi national for 11 years and the opportunity came up to work with Cawleys and I obviously knew of them as a very strong competitor in the region. I was yearning for a new challenge and I felt as though I had reached a point where my talents were not being utilised as they should be. As an outsider I knew Cawleys had such a better service offering with post collection segregation through their MRFs and that they had the capacity to capture, sort and recycle material. Cawleys also creates their own success and is not reliant on a wider group and I saw this as an exciting prospect. As an independent, family-owned business Cawleys can adapt to changes in the market so much swifter than most in the UK and navigate commercial challenges to take advantage of new opportunities. In some respect it also punches above its weight with the large Nationals and I wanted to help them grow and be even more successful. Since moving to Cawleys, I have also seen the positive impact we make to the local communities we serve by supporting time and money to charities and initiatives large and small. This was particularly evident during the pandemic where we supported our customers to navigate extremely challenging times.
How has your role changed since you have joined Cawleys?
Initially, I was employed as the General Manager to manage the collections side of the business and the three depots they ran. I was pleasantly surprised that exiting processes were robust and the focus on the customer was key. During the pandemic some business lines had to be consolidated and the opportunity came to manage the sales teams and my only experience of this was in a prior role I had of a Regional Development Manager. I have absolutely loved this challenge and the team are so much more effective and accountable than they were, and it is a real pleasure to see them develop their skills and grow professionally. Cawleys now enjoys an engaged and over achieving sales team that can be relied upon to deliver consistent growth. My role changed again in late 2021 where I was promoted to Sales Director that came as a bit of a surprise and this meant that I was responsible for the Account Management teams and we have successfully brought the two functions together to deliver best practice in all areas of growth and development. We leverage our expertise across our strategic market sectors to ensure our customers enjoy our full range of services and are at the forefront of innovation.
What do you like/dislike most about your role?
The enjoyment in my role is helping my team be the very best they can and to help them achieve their goals. It is also to shout loud and proud of our successes and to make sure as many businesses as possible enjoy the very best levels of service, innovation, and recycling capabilities. I love the challenge our customers give us to help them achieve their environmental objectives and I am always surprised with the ‘weird and wonderful’ requests they have.
It can be frustrating where some new innovative products to market can be seen as ‘Green Washing’ and we have to unravel and educate customers with the correct methods of segregation and disposal.
Do you think women entering the workforce now are better off than women who started working when you did?
The waste industry is full of strong female role models but there is still poor representation at senior management, director, and board levels across the industry. What I have seen is an incredible amount of young female engineers who bring with them fresh ideas and innovation. ESG experts who influence change who I have met are mainly female and they bring with them a unique perspective on change management and social impacts. I finally feel just as much valued as my male peers and that I have a voice and space to develop.
What would you say to young woman looking for a career in the waste sector?
For any young person coming into waste there are so many varied roles and I would suggest trying as many as possible to get a really good appreciation of every aspect. Do not be intimidated by there being men in the ‘room’ and sometimes you have to breakdown their preconceptions and yes, sometimes you may have to prove yourself more than your male peers. Keep focussing on growing and developing and look to develop strong internal relationships at all levels and I found it was good to have a strong female role model. Ask lots of questions and don’t just do it how it has always been done.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your time in the waste industry
Operationally, front-line staff have always been accepting of women in the workplace and whenever I have spent time on the collection vehicles, I have learned so much from them and never felt I was in a man’s world. Challenges I have faced have been around a stereotype of a ‘sales girl’ where colleagues, peers and managers sometimes assume a woman’s success has come from the fact they are female and not their talents to succeed. When I first started in the waste industry, I went from a customer service role to a depot manager within two years and hopefully I demonstrated to other women it could be done. The very best transport managers I have dealt with were ladies and I was proud to be a growing group of female depot managers in the UK too. What I did find limiting was the next level up that was indeed an arena of men and very limited access for women unless in HR, Marketing or Finance. Whilst professional networking there is unconscious bias where my male colleagues are spoken to first and I was at an interesting event recently where a business owner was taken aback how successful his sales ‘girls’ were and they were almost as good as the men.
How important do you think the waste sector is in achieving a net zero society
The waste sector has long been integral to helping businesses be more effective in how they manage their waste and the onward responsibility. Quite rightly, the focus is on net zero and the positive impact of effective waste and resource management has on this. Waste and Resource Management is just one facet to achieving net zero but is vital to achieving commercial targets.
How has your recycling knowledge improved/changed since joining Cawleys?
I have learned that there are Waste Management companies out there that put into action their pledges around waste in terms of sorting, segregating, and recycling. ‘No’ isn’t an answer when it comes to recycling whether it is teddy bears, redundant stock or 1000s of bottles from the London Marathon. I am constantly learning about alternative collection and treatment methods and the positive impact this makes.