Waste Management Companies in Cambridge: 29 Active Firms (2026)
Waste management companies in Cambridge collect, transport, sort, recycle and dispose of commercial, industrial and household waste under UK permitting rules.
Local buying centres are prosaic: facilities teams, estates managers, construction site managers, procurement officers and council contract teams tend to specify the work, with operations and compliance staff carrying the delivery risk. Customers are usually B2B or public-sector rather than consumer-led, and engagements run from recurring bin, skip and site-clearance contracts to higher-touch handling of recyclable and site-generated streams. At the operational core are vehicles, transfer or treatment relationships, waste notes, registrations and permit obligations. Pure consultants, carbon advisers and environmental reporting firms sit outside the centre of gravity unless they also run physical waste workflows.
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Cambridge has 29 actively trading waste management companies in this list. Reported headcount totals 257, so the employment footprint is visible but relatively concentrated, consistent with a local physical-services market rather than a head-office-heavy sector. The Cambridge cohort appears to sit around owner-managed and lower-mid-market operators serving commercial, construction, institutional and local authority buyers, with workforce needs tied to drivers, yard operations, sorting, compliance administration and contract delivery. For researchers, the small local base means contract wins, depot changes or permit issues can alter the competitive picture more than they would in a broader regional cut.
England's waste regime is permit- and registration-led. Environment Agency and Defra guidance on GOV.UK says operators may need an environmental permit when they use, recycle, treat, store or dispose of waste, with routes through registered exemptions, standard rules permits and bespoke permits. Carrying out a permitted activity without the required permission is treated as breaking the law. Carrier, broker and dealer registration also matters: businesses that transport waste, buy or sell it, dispose of it, or arrange those activities for others need to register, and failure can carry an unlimited fine. Regulation is devolved, so Cambridge operators working outside England need to check the relevant route for Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
The local pipeline appears biased towards owner-managed operators and lower-mid-market specialists, with a thinner layer of larger regional providers. Growth tends to come less from software-style expansion and more from route density, permits, depots, vehicles and customer contracts that make operations defensible but capital-hungry. Compliance pressure is likely to keep favouring firms that can evidence chain-of-custody, carrier registration and site controls, while smaller handlers may remain acquisition targets for operators seeking local coverage. Cambridge's mix of construction, institutional and commercial demand gives the cohort a practical base, though scale-up scarcity suggests uneven progression.
What’s in the file
One row per company, 50+ columns — everything below plus each company’s verified directors, from Companies House filings.
Company data
Verified directors — included
29
Active firms
2026
1
Above £5M turnover
4
Incorporated since 2022
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Key facts
About 3% of the trading cohort reports turnover above £5M (1 of 29 firms) — the rest sits below that revenue band.
13% of the cohort was incorporated since 2022 (4 firms), so a sizeable share is in its first few filing cycles.
Cambridge waste operators work within Environment Agency and Defra permitting routes, including registered exemptions, standard rules permits and bespoke permits.
Businesses that transport waste, buy or sell waste, dispose of waste or arrange waste services must register as a waste carrier, broker or dealer; failure to register can lead to an unlimited fine.
The UK generated 191.2 million tonnes of total waste in 2020, with England responsible for 85% of the total.
Defra estimates 40.4 million tonnes of UK commercial and industrial waste in 2020, with England-only estimates at around 32.6 million tonnes in 2023.
For local authority managed waste in England, Defra reports 25.2 million tonnes in 2024/25; 50.3% was sent for incineration and 5.5% to landfill.
Top Cambridge Waste Management companies
Financial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Financial Health
N/AN/A
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 4 filingsProvides waste management, recycling and skip hire services for businesses and households. Offers commercial waste collection, hazardous and WEEE waste handling, food waste services, and operates…
Serves businesses, tradespeople and homeowners across East Anglia, the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, including offices, hospitality, leisure, construction and multi-site commercial organisations.
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · Profitable, Growing · 4% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides haulage, grab and tipper hire, plant and small tool hire, and skip hire for construction and landscaping projects. Supplies aggregates, offers aggregate recycling, and carries out…
Serves trade and public customers across Cambridgeshire and the wider region, including construction, landscaping, demolition and site-clearance contractors as well as individuals needing hire,…
Financial Health
StableStable · -4% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 3 filingsProduces and supplies recycled construction aggregates from processed inert construction and demolition waste. Provides tipper lorry hire, hardcore collection, and aggregate delivery services for…
Serves B2B customers across East Anglia, including nationally recognised firms in the building, demolition and highways sectors, as well as small independent businesses and large-scale project…
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · 2% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsProvides waste haulage and environmental services, specialising in liquid waste disposal and tankering. Carries out digester, tank, lagoon and pump station cleaning, gully and catchpit clearance,…
Serves businesses and households in East Anglia, the Midlands and South East, including waste management firms, commercial site operators and domestic property owners requiring liquid waste, drainage…
Financial Health
WeakWeak · -69% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides grab lorry and tipper truck hire for site clearance and waste removal. Collects and disposes of construction materials including hardcore, soil, green waste and rubble, and supplies building…
Serves construction and groundworks contractors, landscapers, builders, and domestic customers needing site clearance, waste removal or aggregates around Royston, Hertfordshire, Essex and…
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong · Growing, Hiring · 7% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides drainage services including blocked drain clearance, CCTV drain surveys, and drain repairs. Installs and maintains septic tanks, sewage treatment plants, soakaways, pump stations, and…
Serves households and businesses in the Cambridge area, including property owners, landlords and commercial premises needing drainage, septic tank and sewage treatment support.
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Growing · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 11% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Financial Health
N/AN/A
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak · -68% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · 0% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed
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Computed from 5 filingsPurchases and trades recyclable waste materials including paper, cardboard, plastics, and ferrous and non‑ferrous metals. Provides recycling consultancy, quality compliance guidance, and logistics…
Serves UK businesses and recycling suppliers with paper, plastic and metal waste streams, including organisations handling cardboard, office paper, packaging, bottles, steel cans and non-ferrous…
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · Hiring · 19% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · -24% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 4 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak · Hiring · 26% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Financial Health
N/AN/A
Location
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Computed from 2 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · 0% CAGR over 1y
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable · -88% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · Growing · 0% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 3 filingsProvides environmental remediation services including soil and groundwater treatment, pollution control and brownfield land clean‑up. Delivers spill response and restoration, remediation contracting,…
Serves environmental consultancies, insurance claims managers, industrial organisations and property owners with contaminated land, groundwater or spill incidents, mainly across the UK and EU.
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Growing, Hiring · 41% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable · -4% CAGR over 4y
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How Cambridge Waste Management companies work and how to sell to them
What they do
Cambridge waste management operators earn revenue by charging for collection, skip hire, site clearance, sorting, recycling, treatment, storage or disposal workflows. Pricing is usually a mix of scheduled service fees, per-lift or per-bin charges, tonnage-linked disposal costs, ad hoc call-out work and quoted project rates for construction or estate clearances. Margins depend on route density, vehicle utilisation, gate fees, subcontracted treatment capacity and the cost of evidencing compliant handling. The service is physical and logistics-heavy rather than software-led: crews, vehicles, containers, transfer relationships and paperwork sit behind what customers often experience as a regular collection or one-off job.
Who they sell to
Buyers are mostly estates, facilities, construction, procurement and council teams that need recurring collections or named work packages rather than one-off consumer services. Smaller commercial customers may buy directly from an owner-manager after a site visit or phone quote, while institutional and local authority work tends to involve formal tendering, contract schedules and evidence of registrations and permits. Contract values vary with bin frequency, container type, site complexity and material stream; sales cycles are short for simple collections and longer where a depot, site, or public-sector procurement process is involved. Operations managers and compliance staff often influence renewal, because poor documentation creates delivery risk.
What they buy
Most Cambridge waste management firms tend to spend on practical operating capacity before office systems: vehicles, containers, lifting equipment, yard equipment, maintenance, fuel management, PPE and subcontracted treatment or disposal capacity. For software and services, useful categories include route planning, job management, weighbridge integration, customer billing, document control, finance, payroll, HR, compliance tracking and management reporting. Recruitment, driver training, health-and-safety support, accountancy, legal advice and permit-related consultancy can also fit, especially when operators add sites or take on contracts with more stringent reporting. Sellers should expect cost scrutiny, because buyers can usually tie procurement back to utilisation, avoided penalties, or service reliability.
Why and how to sell to them
Waste management buyers tend to evaluate suppliers when demand outgrows existing routes, a new contract requires better chain-of-custody evidence, permit obligations become more complex, or a depot, vehicle or workforce change exposes weak internal processes. Funding events are less visible than in software markets, so intent signals are more likely to be tender awards, recruitment for drivers or compliance roles, new premises, expanded collection areas, or public notices around permits. Outbound works better when it is operationally specific: reduce missed collections, shorten invoicing lag, simplify waste-note handling, evidence carrier registration, or improve margin visibility by route and material stream.
How this list is built
Data sources
This list is built from UK Companies House filings, XBRL accounts data, and semantic analysis of each company's public website. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.
Classification
Rather than relying solely on SIC codes, Firmbase classifies each company semantically: the company's website is crawled, an AI model reads what the company actually sells, and the company is placed into the relevant industry and subsectors. SIC codes are used as one signal but not the only one. This means a company that registered under a generic SIC code but pivoted into (for example) fintech is correctly identified as fintech, not as its original SIC category.
Freshness
The underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear in the list within days of submission. The curated list ordering is regenerated when the underlying data moves meaningfully (company count changes by more than 5%, a new company enters the top-ranked segment, or the filed-revenue numbers for the top firms change). You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.
Also in Cambridge
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Frequently asked questions
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