Technology is often associated with start-ups and digital businesses. Yet some of the biggest opportunities for innovation are emerging in industries that have traditionally relied on established, physical processes.
From construction and utilities to manufacturing and waste management, businesses are under pressure to grow while controlling costs, dealing with skills shortages and reducing their environmental impact. Adopting technology within these industries doesn’t mean replacing traditional ways of working, rather aims to make them more efficient, measurable and scalable.
Emma Cooke, Operations Manager at technology-enabled waste management specialist Envirovue, explains how businesses can use data to spot inefficiencies, make better use of resources and grow without automatically adding more people, equipment and cost.
The challenge facing traditional industries
Growth often makes day-to-day operations harder to manage. What works for one site can become difficult to control across ten, twenty or even hundreds. Each new location, contractor and supplier adds complexity, making it easier for waste and unnecessary costs to go unnoticed.
Waste is a prime example as businesses might know how much waste they are producing overall, but may have far less visibility over which sites are generating it, why particular waste streams are increasing or whether materials could be reused or recycled instead.
Globally, waste generation reached 2.1 billion tonnes in 2023 and is projected to rise to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050. As volumes increase, businesses need to find ways to manage growing operations without simply increasing the resources required to do so. This is where technology and better data can make a real difference.
Making technology work at scale
Digital tools can bring scattered information together and give businesses a clearer picture of what is happening across their sites.
In waste management, digital tracking can show what is being produced, where it is collected and what happens to it next. This can reveal unnecessary collections, inefficient processes and opportunities to reuse or recycle materials instead of sending them to landfill.
Businesses do not need to change everything at once. They can start with one problem, such as a particular waste stream, site or process, and build from there.
They can then test a solution, measure the results and introduce it elsewhere if it works.
Putting technology into practice
This approach is already being demonstrated through Envirovue’s work with Ipsum Group, a multi-technical services business operating across the UK’s power, water and infrastructure sectors.
As part of Ipsum’s wider net zero strategy, which focuses on fleet, buildings and waste, Envirovue carried out a detailed waste audit across its sites.
The audit identified areas for improvement and brought previously untracked waste streams into view. Working with Ipsum’s field teams and subcontractors, Envirovue subsequently implemented 100 percent landfill diversion and established a recycling process with live monitoring of waste volumes and associated emissions as the partnership expands to further depots.
The project demonstrates how technology can be introduced alongside existing operations rather than requiring businesses to completely overhaul the way they work.
For Ipsum, better waste visibility forms part of a wider strategy to reduce its environmental impact as the business continues to operate across a complex network of infrastructure projects and sites.
Scaling smarter and growing without unnecessary cost
For traditional industries, the next stage of growth may not be about doing more with more. It could be about doing more with what they already have. Technology can help businesses understand where resources are being lost, make processes more efficient and replicate improvements as they grow.For traditional industries, the next stage of growth may not be about doing more with more.
It could be about doing more with what they already have.Technology can help businesses understand where resources are being lost, make processes more efficient and replicate improvements as they grow.
The businesses that benefit most won’t necessarily be those investing in the newest technology. They will be those that identify the right problems to solve and use technology to make existing operations work smarter.
For sectors facing growing demand, rising costs and increasing environmental expectations, the ability to scale smarter could be what allows them to grow without financial or environmental costs rising at the same pace.
To find out more please visit Envirovue.
