2025 Progress and Future Opportunities
Stephen Cameron, Managing Director, Change Waste Recycling
As 2026 approaches, I’d like to reflect on our progress as a business and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.
This year marked the launch of our ambitious three-year plan to double the size of the business. As we approach the end of the first year, we’re well on track to achieve this goal. Strong performance across the business combined with the dedication of our people and the momentum behind our strategic initiatives gives us confidence as we move into the next phase of the plan. In support of our three-year strategy, we also completed a major refurbishment of our Edinburgh head office in early 2025. This investment has created a modern, comfortable, and efficient workspace that better supports collaboration and productivity.
We continue to see strong momentum across our customer base, driven by a growing understanding of the benefits of source-segregated waste collections. Increasingly, organisations recognise that separating materials at the point of generation is a more sustainable and effective approach; one that reduces contamination, protects material quality, and prevents valuable resources from being lost to landfill through co-mingled collections. This remains a core strength of Change Waste Recycling, and we have continued to invest in and expand this service.
With sixteen years in the waste and resource recovery sector, I have seen the industry evolve considerably. What drew me to Change Waste Recycling (CWR) was its genuinely differentiated model; a commitment to clean, high-quality material capture, a team driven by a passion for recycling and a strong reputation for customer service. These qualities have enabled us to grow our operations significantly in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 2025, as well as expand our national solutions offering, which mirrors the most successful models in the market and is creating a significant platform for future growth.
Despite considerable consolidation in the UK waste sector, there is still a clear opportunity for agile, customer-focused SMEs that can offer a personal, reliable, and accountable service. Many multisite organisations across hospitality, retail and property management are actively seeking trusted partners to help improve recycling performance, reduce waste, unlock efficiencies, and access transparent reporting, including carbon data. CWR is finding opportunity to support these businesses and to add value by careful and considered data analysis, remodelling of services and driving the recovery of resources that are still not always captured.
This year we also made a major step forward in our own personal sustainability journey, with the introduction of our first two fully electric waste collection vehicles, now operating across Edinburgh and delivering cleaner, low-emission recycling services. This marks the start of a three-year programme to convert all fourteen of our High Quality Recycling vehicles in Edinburgh and Glasgow to electric, with the fleet set to operate entirely on electric power by 2028.
I’m also proud that over the last year, CWR has been nominated for, or won, several prestigious business awards. In April, we were shortlisted for the British Business Awards. In May, our founder, Forbes Connor, won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Wedo Awards in Edinburgh. CWR was also nominated for both the Let’s Recycle Awards and the MRW Awards. Most recently, we won the Event Operations Award at the 2025 European Tour Group Sustainability Awards, recognising the transformational waste and recycling programme we delivered at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, setting a new benchmark for sustainable event operations globally.
We also reaffirmed our commitment to our charity partner, Social Bite. We’ve recently made our third £20,000 donation and have pledged to match this again in 2026. In addition, our people take part in fundraising events throughout the year to help advance the incredible work Social Bite does for people experiencing homelessness.
These are only a few examples of our progress and achievements, which would not have been possible without the people who make up Change Waste Recycling. Those who have joined us recently have brought fresh capability and perspective, while long-serving colleagues continue to provide unwavering knowledge, consistency, and dedication. My sincere thanks go to everyone at Change Waste Recycling for their professionalism, hard work, and commitment.
The opportunity for the coming year is clear. We will continue to champion the benefits of source-segregated collections, support customers seeking to improve their sustainability performance, and demonstrate how straightforward operational changes can deliver substantial improvements in recycling, cost efficiency, and overall environmental impact. With a strong team and a proven model, we are well positioned to help drive the transition toward a more circular and resource-efficient economy.