If recycling your domestic rubbish is a pain, imagine what it’s like running a car-repair workshop: batteries, bolts, bulbs, bumpers, plastics, oily rags, scrap metal and toxic liquids are just a few of the nasties. Understandably, most of Britain’s 25,000 garage owners either don’t bother — nearby rivers are handy — or they take the rubbish to landfill sites or incinerators where they pay a packet to get rid of it. Either way they are likely to be breaking the law, or to be about to break it: a new EU directive comes into force at the end of this month stipulating that all waste must be pre-treated before it even goes to the landfill.
But their waste is someone else’s profit; or at least that’s what Angus Macdonald is banking on as he recycles himself from media mogul to modern-day Steptoe of the motor industry. The 44-year-old Scottish entrepreneur, who recently made around £20 million from selling the eFinancialGroup to Dow Jones, is so certain of the potential that he is investing in SWR, Britain’s only waste-management business for garages and motor dealerships.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in