From Heathrow waste coordinator to founder

Helene studied sustainable development as a master’s degree and, unsure of her direction, found her first job in waste as a waste coordinator at Heathrow Airport. That role brought her face to face with how much a large commercial building consumes and disposes of. She describes waste as a big representation of how society consumes stuff and then simply throws it away, and in an airport setting the scale of that is significant.

Her career then moved across sectors, including the NHS, Barclays and a more central role at CBRE working with internal teams. After being made redundant in May 2023, she saw an opportunity to launch Circular Workplaces, now just over a year old, giving organisations outside support on circular economy in the workplace without having to hire full-time staff.

Why waste sits at the bottom of the list

Working with internal teams at CBRE, Helene observed that most sustainability attention goes to energy efficiency and carbon measurement, with waste further down the priority list. The consequence, she notes, is that teams lack the bandwidth and the skill set to focus on it properly.

That gap is what she built her consultancy to fill. Rather than expecting large clients to recruit dedicated employees, she offers external support so sustainability teams can address waste without the added headcount. It is a niche she felt was being left unattended precisely because attention was concentrated elsewhere.

Using waste reduction to build better workplaces

The vision behind Circular Workplaces is that waste reduction is a means to a better workplace, not the goal on its own. Helene is clear that the aim is amazing workplaces and better culture, with waste reduction used as the route to get there.

Waste is very powerful because it tells you so much about a workplace, and waste reduction helps you get to better workplaces.

A simple example she gives is encouraging people to have lunch together in a proper restaurant-style area rather than eating a takeaway at their desk. That change improves the workplace and reduces waste at the same time, which captures the approach in miniature.

What a bin reveals about a workplace

Her work starts with understanding what a site’s waste is actually made of, because that exercise reveals a great deal. It shows whether an organisation is ordering too much stationery, food or furniture, and whether items are being discarded unbroken, which points to inefficient operations.

Waste also exposes employee behaviour. If a bin is full of coffee cups from Starbucks while the office already offers coffee, Helene suggests it is worth asking what is wrong with the coffee being provided. It is also a very tangible way to look at cost and carbon, since both are sitting inside the bin.

Practical takeaways:

• Start by understanding what your waste is made of before planning any changes.
• Treat discarded, unbroken items as a signal of over-ordering or inefficiency.
• Use waste as a direct measure of cost and carbon, not just an afterthought.

Food, coffee and supporting local communities

Food is a recurring theme. Helene points to a common problem where there is too much food waste and people also leave the building to buy lunch, which means they miss collaboration opportunities inside the office. Organisations, she notes, want people to connect, exchange ideas and create things together, not simply turn up.

One idea under discussion with a central London client is to bring independent food vendors in for pop-ups, for example every Tuesday, creating excitement around the food offering while keeping people on site and using reusable containers. In past work with a large UK bank, a whole zero waste programme was framed as a workplace experience project, built around moments of sustainability in the customer journey, with food and coffee central to it.

• Embed waste reduction in procurement policies, FM tenders and workplace design.
• Frame initiatives as workplace experience to secure employee buy-in.
• Focus on the upstream decisions you can control rather than policing behaviour.

Two core services: transformation and the waste open day

Circular Workplaces offers two main services. The first is a transformation programme: diagnosing a site’s waste, understanding how the workplace works and where the cost and carbon risks sit, then mobilising new solutions, reviewing policies and operating procedures, and tracking progress to keep engagement going.

The second is the waste open day, which can run inside a transformation programme or as a standalone product. A pop-up kit of eight see-through bins forms a wall of bins, and employees segregate their waste across the compartments for a day to create a talking point. The waste data is then captured into a report on the level of waste on site and its cost and carbon impact. It is designed to be self-delivered, so clients can order kits and run them across multiple locations at once.

Life as a founder and where to start

Helene describes founding a business as a roller coaster of ups and downs, exciting and full of learning after a corporate career, and at times a slap in the face. The part she values most is the people. Outside the big companies she found many who are keen to help, curious and genuinely wanting to make change, including connections made through putting herself out there on LinkedIn.

Her advice for anyone beginning a waste reduction journey is to look at procurement rather than the bin, because it is easier to change what you buy than to track what you throw away. Pick a category or item, reduce it upstream and set a target you can measure, such as the number of coffee cups purchased, rather than a vague goal to cut overall waste.

Practical takeaways:

• Begin with procurement, as reducing upstream is easier to control and measure.
• Pick one category or item and set a clear, trackable target.
• Reach out and connect with like-minded people; a response can open unexpected doors.