Q&A: Can the recycling industry solve its labour shortage?

The recycling industry runs on people just as much as it does on equipment, yet companies are struggling to find and keep the talent they need to operate efficiently. From the growing demand for skilled labour to the pressure of automation, staffing challenges are emerging as one of the most significant barriers to operational growth.

To learn how recyclers can adapt, I spoke with Bilal Ahmed, founder of Renovus, a specialist recruitment firm dedicated to the waste and recycling industries. With a close-up view of hiring, retention, and leadership trends across the recycling sector, their insights go beyond recruitment tips and shed light on how companies can adapt to generational shifts, build stronger workplace cultures, and rethink the way they develop career paths for employees.

Slone Fox: Have you found certain company culture models or leadership styles work particularly well in this sector?

Bilal Ahmed: Culture has a huge impact on retention — over the past three years, it has been the number one question I get asked when I am hiring for a business. It's a hands-on industry and very relationship-driven, so the day-to-day environment matters. People tend to stay in environments where they feel safe, supported, respected, and set up to succeed.

This year alone, I have personally placed candidates who have taken a significant reduction in compensation to join a business with a much better culture. That being said, everyone deserves fair compensation, but it goes to show you cannot hide a bad culture with money anymore.

Leadership that gives autonomy works best, but it's a two-way street. If businesses are putting their trust in salespeople or service people, they need to be responsible for making sure they communicate effectively and don't break that trust.

SF: Which workforce challenges can a talent firm realistically solve, and which challenges still fall on the company itself?

BA: We can solve a lot of front-end challenges, which include identifying and attracting niche talent, mapping competitors, accessing hidden networks, crafting compelling employer stories, advising on realistic role design, and understanding market conditions. Essentially, painting the best picture of your business to the candidate's market.

However, retention and performance depend on the company. Culture, leadership quality, compensation, and things like onboarding matter. For example, having a smooth onboarding process can say a lot about how candidates perceive a business. We can benchmark pay and design onboarding frameworks, but we can't fix a broken culture or toxic leadership.

SF: What are the most common mistakes you've seen recycling companies make when trying to hire or retain high-quality staff?

BA: A lot of businesses fall into this trap of treating hiring as reactive or transactional rather than a strategic function. Let's talk about succession planning. Many businesses don't have a plan for that in place, and even if someone is retiring in five years, a succeeding leader should already be in the business and being prepared for that role. We can't always pre-empt someone leaving a business, but for any leadership or senior leadership role, we should have the mindset that if this person leaves the business, we have a plan — even if that plan means knowing who will temporarily take over that workload while we find a replacement.

Having a fully defined job description and job briefing is key. I like to agree on three separate tiers with the client to make sure we are on the same page. These cover product or service, location, and budget. Tier one is that the candidate has all three. The second tier is that we have two out of three, and then we agree on which two are more important. The third tier is where we have at least one, and then we agree on which is the most important.

Another common mistake is underestimating the candidate's experience. This is the first exposure a candidate has to a business, and how they really get a feeling of what it's like to work at the business. Disorganized interviews, unclear travel expectations, or weak onboarding can leave a poor impression.

Having a road map for progression or a structured skills development program is something that comes up often. Let's not wait until someone resigns to remember they were up for a promotion in 12 months. These are dialogues that should be regularly happening because there are a lot of very ambitious people in the industry who are looking to grow and develop.

SF: In regions or markets where local labour is limited, what sourcing strategies have you seen work best?

BA: I think first and foremost, we need to identify how critical it is that the position is based in the office. I understand the desire to build company culture and have a team on site, but it will come down to the function of the role, too. I think sales and service should be remote positions. The priority should be finding the best sales and service people for your business, within budget and location, after that.

If we are talking about operational or on-site engineering positions, a conscious effort should be made to partner with local colleges, universities, and high schools to offer local work placements and train those young professionals, giving them the skills needed to be a future leader in the business. In my view, this works the best, but it's no easy task. For it to be successful, a robust plan should be in place to hire cohorts to support each other.

SF: What are the most common gaps you see between what companies expect of recycling roles and what the pipeline of candidates delivers?

BA: Companies often look for a "unicorn," the salesperson who can troubleshoot and lead the business. I'm sure there are some brilliant people out there who can do all of the above, but we need to be realistic about our expectations.

A skills gap that will become an even bigger problem in the near future is experience with modern technology and automation. Recycling systems are becoming a lot more sophisticated, and many plants still draw from a labour pool with traditional mechanical or operator backgrounds. Similarly, what we look for in a salesperson changes. The question is, how well are we preparing the workforce for new digital technologies coming in? How can we upskill current workers?

We help close these gaps by helping companies sharpen and prioritize their requirements. Separating the must-haves from nice-to-haves so the searches are realistic and targeted. I often map adjacent industries like aggregates, industrial machinery, logistics, and manufacturing, so there are transferable skills, particularly in operations and leadership. We often work with employers to design better onboarding and development pathways. This means you can hire high-potential candidates who might be 70 to 80 percent there, and we can put a plan in place to upskill them on the job.

Finally, using clear and honest storytelling in recruitment. Setting realistic expectations on both sides, making sure the candidates know what's expected, and that companies really understand the current market talent profile. All these combined bridge the gap between ideal and available talent.

SF: With automation changing recycling operations, what should employers be prioritizing to avoid skill gaps in the next five years?

BA: Employers need to start thinking about future-proofing the workforce now and being proactive. The companies that will lead with this in the next five years are the ones that look at workforce development as strategically as capital investment.

Skills forecasting should be the priority. Let's sit down and really think about which roles are likely to be phased out or transformed. Take manual sorting, for example. We may see fewer of these roles appearing, but actually, new roles are being created, such as automation technicians and data analysts. By identifying it early, businesses can build a workforce transition plan rather than panic later and worry about shortages.

Next comes a very structured training and upskilling program, which is essential. A lot of employees right now have the operational knowledge, but they might be lacking the skills in digital systems. This ties in with retention by offering clear learning and development opportunities.

Cross-functional integration is becoming much more critical. The lines between operations, IT, and engineering blur; in truth, I believe it's a great thing that there will be a lot of collaboration across departments and employees with hybrid skill sets. Embedding workforce planning into the automation strategy will be key in all of this coming together. Involving Operations and HR early on, investing in retraining before deployment, and engaging through this change. By taking these steps now, we can avoid skills shortages and build a very resilient workforce.

SF: How are staffing needs changing as recycling operations become more technology-driven?

BA: Automation is transforming where people add value. There are new hybrid roles that will be created that blend mechanics and digital. The workforce will be shifting upstream and downstream. There may be fewer people needed on the picking line, but there will be more needed in system design, installation, commissioning, maintenance, and QC. As this happens, strategic and leadership positions are going to be more and more important.

We're not looking at automation taking over jobs or reducing jobs, but transforming jobs. We are moving toward fewer low-skilled roles and a lot more technically skilled, better-paid positions.