 As featured in South West Business Insider Magazine.
Axe Skips in Axminster is a family run business, which started in 1984. The owners James and Karen Bostock have recently made a significant investment in recycling the waste that is brought into their yard, by sorting suitable materials and shredding what they can, with the potential for creating Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). The company has set itself a target of ultimately sending zero to landfill. Karen said: “Waste from the building trade presents a big challenge for us. Products such as wood, plasterboard, uPVC and metals unfortunately cannot be recycled at the moment. "Consequently, we have just invested in a large shredding machine which breaks down a lot of these and as a result we have already reduced our landfill by two 40 yard bin collections a week. “We are now looking into making waste into RDF, using biodegradable material and plastics. Any paper generated is shredded and used as horse bedding and we are currently recycling about 86% of the waste brought into the yard. We are investing in our own sustainable transport which has already resulted in cutting down on the mileage of the larger bins we fill with recyclable waste.”
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 A Devon based waste service business is calling on the next government to take a serious look at the industry and how it is regulated. Axe Skip Hire in Axminster says no support is given to a sector which is trying its best to embrace net zero and carbon neutral aims.
The small family run business, which has been going for 40 years, says the onerous red tape and bureaucracy is “difficult and demoralising” and that unlike other industries, such as farming and forestry, no grants are available to assist the waste industry to deal with new regulations, recycle more waste and reduce the amount which goes into landfill. Company Director James Bostock says: “Never has it been so difficult or demoralising to run our business. With all the talk about recycling and helping the environment, the next government needs to start looking at grants to help with continuous, nit-picking, impractical red tape, tests and changes imposed on us - all of which are additional costs.” One example of this is new mandatory soil testing measures, which were introduced to ensure toxic waste is not being processed or dumped. Axe Skip Hire says the Environment Agency (EA) has no real guidelines, help or advice about how this can be done. Each test costs around £250, with a soil skip costing from £180. James says: “The EA is becoming more and more difficult with regards to the waste, especially skip hire industry. If you are just a regular ‘man and a van’ all you need is a waste carrier’s licence. No regulations, red tape, qualifications and costs that we have to go through in order to to transport the same waste. “While we have to have a paper trail of every bit of waste that leaves our yard, others can just dump it anywhere. This has made fly tipping of general household waste including fridges, freezers, TVs, more and more apparent in the countryside, which means hazardous waste is being transported with no licences and just dumped. With nothing to inspect, it is hard to police, so it is just ignored whilst we are squeezed more and more.” Another example is the permitted use of red diesel, a cheaper form of fuel which is used by travelling fairs, agriculture, horticulture and rail transport. The waste industry, which has sorting vehicles only used on site, is no longer allowed to use it and has to run on normal diesel - despite having a lower impact on the environment. James says: “At every new decision/procedure or demand someone in an office, far far away from the work on the ground, comes up with an additional cost to us with no help, guidance - just ‘you can't do this’ and then more cost. “There is only so much you can keep passing onto the customer, especially when you have others in the same industry who can undercut you so much, as they don’t have the regulations or costs which have impacted us. “It's like they are trying to squeeze out the small businesses all together. Other sectors get grants or support to help the environment and keep them in existence when any new regulations are enforced on them. It’s about time the waste industry got the help it so obviously needs.”  Juliette and Karen Bostock, with their dog Teddy.  As some may know, our director Karen Bostock was struck down in January 2024 with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare condition in which a person's immune system attacks the peripheral nerves, taking away feeling and use of feet, hands and legs. It can take anything up to 12 months to recover. We are pleased to say that thanks to the amazing help and programme of rehabilitation at East Devon Sports Therapy Axminster, Karen is now able to use her hands and feet and has just started driving again. Slowly on the mend, but still lacking feeling in parts of her extremities. Being Karen though, she has now decided to set a new goal for the next three months of recovery. She says: "I have been fund raising for many charities since the age of 14 (I'm now now considerably older!) Some people might remember the more recent shows in the Guildhall Axminster I organised with my amazing family and team called One Night Only " "The last show was held in 2019, this topped my aim of raising £100K for charities. It has included over the years many different events such as fashion shows, horse shows, fun days, street parties, sponsored drives around Wales and a cycle challenge across India, but never me doing a run. "So, I have decided to aim for the Race for Life 5K at Westpoint in Exeter on the 20th July. My husband James (Boz) who has been my absolute rock for the past five months of my illness is also going to join me, along with some friends, in the Axe Skip Hire Team. I‘m calling it a wobble around the 5k at the moment, as running is currently not really an option. The aim is to start off at a run by the 20th July for the event. "Cancer has been a big concern within our family over the years, losing Boz’s dad in 2009 and his mum Jane having now recovered from breast cancer, then more recently the loss of my mum to cancer two years ago. So once again I ask all our friends, family, colleagues and business associates to dig deep and help us raise the £1,000 target we have set between us." Here is our fund-raising link, which we would very much like to thank you in advance for any donations you could give You really never know what is around the corner. https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/axe-skip-hire-team  Karen and her mum, who sadly died from cancer two years ago.  |
