Waste company owner is a 'woman in a man's world'

The owner of a waste collection company that distributes reusable items to deserving causes said she was "a woman in a man's world".

Sandra McCluskey, who lives in Bedfordshire but operates in the Milton Keynes area, said she had been "warned" about getting involved in the industry but wanted to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill or left by the roadside.

She first tried to make a waste clearance business work a few years ago, but the Covid pandemic made it difficult. Once the masks had been packed away and the crisis was over, she set about creating "The Firm".

"I've been warned a couple of times that it's definitely a man's world and I shouldn't be involved," she said.

"Just because I'm a woman, it doesn't mean that I can't do the job efficiently," she added.

Across the country, only 19% of the waste management workforce is female, according to data from the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management.

McCluskey's own life experiences have, she believes, contributed to her desire to help vulnerable people by passing on useful waste: "I was homeless myself, I've suffered hardship, I've been on benefits, I've lost my son, I'm a single parent now and I've seen things.

"I could see how things could help people - mattresses for single mums, or dishwashers or washing machines, clothes for the homeless, bottled water from event clearances."

There have been hurdles along the way, and she said bricks were thrown through a window at her house after she "made a strong stand" against a company she believed did not have the correct licences to operate.

She continued: "As registered waste carriers, we're being undercut by unlicensed people who aren't being responsible about where the waste goes, and that's why there's so much fly-tipping."

Milton Keynes has seen fly-tipping fall by more than a quarter over the past five years, but the city council believes "there is much more to do".

"Being a woman, I do have that bit of emotional attachment as well to the fact that I would like to see greener spaces and stronger communities."

She feels that responsible carriers often get "tarred with the same brush" as unauthorised companies, even though she is paying out for licences, insurances and tip fees.

For McCluskey, the reward comes in the face of those who receive items that someone else has thrown away.

"If you can see a child of maybe five who's never had a scooter in their life, and I've managed to give that child a scooter through a donation I picked up in a tonne bag, and it hasn't ended up on the side of the road, and it's made someone really happy, I believe that's a really good thing to do," she said.

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