Member Article

Success down under for Newcastle waste company

Warp-It.co.uk has expanded its client base after winning a contract with Australia’s James Cook University.

The Newcastle-headquartered waste company is an online system, similar to Freecycle, which saves office furniture and equipment from landfill by pairing donors and recipients.

The firm has successfully secured the work with the university, which is named after Whitby’s very own explorer Captain James Cook.

Founder and managing director of Warp It, Daniel O’Connor, said: “I’m delighted that we have scooped our first Australian client – especially given the historical connection between Whitby, where I’m based, and James Cook!”

The former waste manager launched the company in 2011 after spotting an opportunity to find a home for hundreds of relatively new office chairs that had been dumped into a skip.

Daniel, who runs Warp It with eight other staff, said: “We’ve won hundreds of contracts over the past four years with businesses, universities, schools, hospitals, and local authorities across the UK.

“We are just getting into the EU and North America. Adding Australia to the list has been one of our long-term goals and we’re very excited to see the savings we’ll help the university make.”

In the first year of the contract James Cook University has invested £2,600 into the Warp It system and expects to save at least five times that in costs and divert 10 tonnes of waste in a year.

Environment, Manager Adam Connell said: “James Cook University is excited to be the first University in Australia to use the Warp It system. The University is committed to sustainable practices and reducing its impact through waste reduction is a key priority. The Warp It system ticks all the boxes for us and we expect so save thousands of dollars each year using the system.”

To date, the system has saved nearly £4 million and avoided 33,000 tonnes of waste. It also helps to reduce unnecessary purchasing within organisations, eliminating waste, and improving collaboration.

Daniel said: “My ambition is to make the reuse of items within organisations mainstream. Warp It should be the first port of call for organisations when buying new if they want to save on purchase costs. Or who have anything that can be reused by another business.

“This project is making the world a better and more sustainable place, improving resilience, reducing procurement costs and keeping products out of skips. It’s a powerful online system and it works.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .