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When I joined Westminster’s Waste and Cleansing team back in 2003 as a graduate
officer, working on Church Street Market and the Edgware Road, our streets, our
systems, and our city looked very different. Over the 23 years since, I’ve had the
privilege of watching — and helping shape — enormous change: from the early days of
mixed recycling and diversion from landfill, through the rollout of recycling options for
the bulk of materials we throw away every day, the move to waste powered electric
collection trucks, decarbonisation and the Simpler Recycling reforms that are reshaping
how every business in Westminster manages its waste today.
As I step down as Head of Commercial Waste Services, I find myself reflecting less on
the policies and more on the people. I’ve worked alongside fantastic collection crews
who worked around the clock in all weathers, account managers who built genuine
relationships with thousands of businesses, and colleagues across the city council who
never stopped pushing for a cleaner, greener Westminster. Together, we’ve taken this
service from something fairly basic to one that’s genuinely innovative — recognised for
its sustainability work, its customer support, and its responsiveness to the businesses
that rely on it every day.
None of that happens without trust. Every business owner who chose our service over a
duplicated one by private contractor, every customer who worked with us for a cleaner
and greener Westminster, every member of staff who believed in what we were building
— you made this service what it is. Thank you for that trust. It’s been the foundation of
everything we’ve achieved together.
My final working day with Westminster City Council is imminent, after which I’ll be
moving on to a new challenge at the Western Riverside Waste Authority, overseeing
waste treatment for around a million residents across four central London boroughs. It’s
a different vantage point on the same mission, and I’m excited for it — but Westminster
will always be where it started for me.
Westminster’s commercial waste landscape will keep evolving — extended producer
responsibility reforms, the emissions trading scheme for carbon emissions, the push
towards a circular economy, new technology in our fleet and our data management
systems. I leave knowing the service is in capable hands, with a team that has the
experience and the values to keep raising the bar.
It has been the privilege of my working life to lead this wonderful team. Thank you,
Westminster, for two unforgettable decades.
Jarno Stet, outgoing Head of Commercial Waste Services
