By Kristy Dorsey

If understanding a problem is indeed half the battle to solving it, then waste management is about as clear as the average black bin liner. With a vast array of private and public sector players handling a huge mix of materials often travelling hundreds or even thousands of miles, the large-scale web of what rubbish goes where is extremely difficult to track.

In the UK alone there are hundreds of millions of waste movements every year, and though trash is an unappealing subject for many, Mike Groves of Topolytics is on a mission to unleash the treasure within.

“The geography of waste is crucial to understanding what happens to it, and more importantly, what could happen to it,” he says. “Really, the starting point is just understanding what is going on.”

Set up in 2013, the original concept behind Topolytics was to create a live reporting system for companies needing to produce data for shareholders and customers on their carbon footprint and overall environmental impact. However, Mr Groves said it soon became apparent that there “was not quite enough pain there” to build a commercially viable business.

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However, as it became obvious that smaller firms in the supply chain were also being “bombarded” with questions on sustainability, he then started refining the system with an eye to addressing the lack of visibility in the waste supply chain.

The result is the Edinburgh-based firm’s WasteMap analytics platform, which has been described as a leader in the £2 billion global “wastetech” sector. Using analytics and machine learning to collect and interpret data from thousands of disparate sources and systems, WasteMap aims to make rubbish “visible, verifiable and valuable”, making it easier to drive resource and cost efficiencies while also supporting the circular economy.

“If you think about a company that we think of as a waste producer, often they don’t really know what they are paying for when they hire someone to handle their waste materials,” Mr Groves explains. “They don’t really understand everything that is in there and what is happening to it, and they also don’t know how far it is being moved.”

It has been estimated that about 60 per cent of waste produced in cities around the world is currently going to landfill or otherwise leaking into the environment, while a similar percentage of people globally don’t have access to proper waste infrastructure management. In the case of plastics that make their way into the oceans and seas, much of this breaks down into tiny particles that have damaging impact on marine life even though they can’t be seen with the naked eye.

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Of course some of this waste is clearly visible, and has been for decades. Thinking back to the 1990s when he worked as a forest certification specialist and environmental consultant in Indonesia, Mr Groves recalls being appalled by what he encountered at a time when the issue was not the hot topic it is today.

“My daily view was of logging camps in Borneo, but occasionally we would have a day off and go to the beach and I would see this tideline of waste and wonder, ‘wait a minute, how has all of this wound up on this remote and otherwise pristine beach?’, and that was 25 years ago,” he says.

A graduate in geographical science from the University of Portsmouth, Mr Groves went on to acquire a PhD in aerial photography before then obtaining a Masters in resource management from the University of Edinburgh. He then worked for SGS Forestry in the UK and Indonesia before setting up Edinburgh-based sustainability reporting specialist Great Circle, which later became part of Instinctif Partners.

Nearly eight years of his stint with Great Circle overlapped with another separate venture, entertainment producer Moving Conversations. He gave that up in 2013 to set up Topolytics, which now employs 14 people from its office at Edinburgh’s CodeBase technology incubator.

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Sales have grown at a double-digit pace for the past three years, driven by projects such as the company’s £500,000 contract to build the UK’s first digital waste tracking system for the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The system will monitor and analyse tens of millions of transactions every year to give regulators an up-to-date view on waste movements from households, local authorities, businesses and the construction sector. Sources for this data will include invoicing records, weighbridge and bin weighing systems, vehicle telematics, smart labelling systems and “internet of bins” sensors, all operating off the WasteMap system.

The prototype system is now complete, Mr Groves said, and is currently under review by waste regulators in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Topolytics is also working with the Centre of Engineering Education and Development (CeeD) to help manufacturers get a better understanding of their waste and its associated carbon impact. Furthermore, it is engaging with recycling specialists on ways that they can provide better data to their customers.

Looking ahead, Mr Groves is hoping to expand the use of WasteMap internationally and the company focuses on scale while building a model for recurring revenues. He would particularly like to expand into markets in Asia and the Middle East.

“We see waste as a global system,” he explains. “The more we are working in different areas and countries, the more of that information we can capture.”

Q&A

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

I enjoy every experience in a new or familiar country. If you want examples, let’s say America for the tech biz chat and positivity, India for the sense of possibility and assault on the senses, and Indonesia to relive my days as a tropical forester.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

I wanted to be a pilot – I was desperate to fly a Spitfire. Some years ago I obtained my private pilot’s licence in Zimbabwe. While a Cessna 172 is a tad more sedate than a fighter, spinning it, landing on grass strips and gunning the engine to clear the runway of wildlife induced some adrenalin.

What was your biggest break in business?

Meeting a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who asked me ‘how do you monetise?’.

What was your worst?

Realising that cinema exhibition is a property business, not an entertainment business.

Who do you most admire and why?

Sonny Terry – a life well lived and music well made. Boy could he play that blues harp.

What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

The Free Fishers by John Buchan and I listen regularly to Spotify Discover Weekly.