Examples of completed projects: Waste Management and Recycling

1994: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENTRY STRATEGY INTO THE IRISH MARKET

Client:	A waste disposal contractor.
Objectives:	To quantify the size of the Irish chemical waste disposal market and to determine the best means of entry into the market.
Tasks:	Identify and interview the 50 largest chemical and pharmaceutical producers in Northern and Southern Ireland. Assessthe competition, market size, legislation and pricing. Recommend the best means of entry into the market.

1997: THE PLASTICS RECYCLING MARKET

Client:	A chemical processing company.
Objective:	To determine the potential for a new form of used plastic reprocessing.
Tasks:	Determine the volumes of used plastic suitable for the process. Determine the potential end market for the reprocessed plastic. Assess the competition. Determine the impact of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations. Make recommendations.

2000: A MYSTERY TELEPHONE SHOPPER PROJECT

Client:	A waste management contractor.
Objective:	To find out how well the company’s depots respond to telephoned sales enquiries.
Tasks:	Develop a realistic sales enquiry for each of the depots. Telephone each of the depots and measure its performance on the telephone against 16 predetermined parameters. Compare the company’s performance against the competition. Make recommendations.

2001: FOCUS GROUPS

Client:	A waste management contractor.
Objective:	Design and facilitate 3 focus groups to find out what waste producers will require from their contractors in the future and to determine the impact of future legislation.
Tasks:	In consultation with the client, develop the overall format for the focus groups and design the material to be used to direct the groups. Facilitate the focus groups. Write a detailed transcript and executive summary for each of the groups including a summary for the contractor’s customers that participated.

2002: CUSTOMER ATTITUDE SURVEY

Client:	A waste management contractor.
Objective:	To determine how the client is performing in its customers’ eyes and to recommend where improvements could be made to the quality of the service. There was a heavy emphasis on quantification, with 17 aspects of the service being scored.
Tasks:	Design a questionnaire for the client Carry out 32 telephone interviews. Compare the client’s performance against key competitors Write a detailed report including recommendations. Maker a presentation to senior management.

2003: GAUGING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A COMPANY’S SALES EFFORT

Client:	A waste management contractor.
Objective:	To find out why existing customers are not buying the full range of services offered by the client by telephone interviewing 55 customers.
Tasks:	Determine customer awareness of the range of services available from the client. (Is the sales effort effective?) Find out why the client company is not winning all the potential business from its existing customers and what it would need to do to win the remaining business. Quantify the quality of the services being offered. Analyse the responses and write a detailed report. Make presentation to the board.

2004: THE IMPACT OF THE LANDFILL DIRECTIVE AND WAC’S

Client:	A waste management contractor specialising in hazardous waste.
Objective:	To determine how hazardous waste producers saw the implementation of the Landfill Directive and WAC’s impacting on their waste disposal and to find business opportunities for my client. This was achieved through 78 telephone interviews.
Tasks:	Determine waste producers’ awareness of the legislation and its potential impact. Identify waste streams, which were likely to face a lack of disposal sites after the implementation of the legislation. Determine the degree of interest in an approach from my client. Write a report prioritising the waste producers according to the likely value of their business available to the client.

2005: LOCAL AUTHORITY SATISFACTION SURVEY AND RESEARCH PROJECT

Client:	A waste management contractor.
Objective:	To determine how well the client was performing for 30 local authorities and to find out how they intended to comply with LATS and the Landfill Directive. 48 interviews.
Tasks:	Interview operations people to score the client’s operational performance and to benchmark against the competition. Speak to local authority strategy people to gauge future requirements in the light of Landfill Directive/LATS and to gauge how well they considered that the client company could meet those requirements. Write a report detailing how the client should raise the public sector’s awareness of the full range of services on offer and how to build closer relationships with local authorities.

2006: RESEARCH INTO THE HAZARDOUS WASTE MARKET

Client:	A venture capital company.
Objective:	To determine the size of the hazardous waste market in the UK and to determine how much waste is being landfilled, how much treated, the market shares of the key players and trends in the waste producers’ requirements.
Tasks:	Interviewed every major contractor active in the hazardous waste market. Interviewed major hazardous waste producers. Interviewed the Environment Agency at several levels. Wrote report suggesting the way forward for the client.

2007: FINDING USES FOR A BY PRODUCT OF WASTE TREATMENT

Client:	A waste management contractor.
Objective:	To find potential uses for the large annual arisings of by-product from a waste treatment plant. It was critical for the financial viability of the project that that the material was not landfilled. This work had to be done on a ‘confidential’ basis; in other words, without revealing my client’s identity.
Tasks:	Identified, through telephone interviews with potential users, the industry sectors likely to use the material. For each industry sector potentially interested in using the material, I interviewed at least 5 key companies to find out how the material could be treated to make it more attractive and to determine the tonnage that they would consider taking. Arranged initial contacts between my client and the potentially interested companies. In total found 7 companies, which, between them, could potentially utilise the whole arising.