Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Pearsons was established as a waste paper merchant in 1945, now turns over £6m pa and employs 64.

The company was founded by the father and grandfather of current owners Pat and Jo Pearson and remains in family ownership.

The business has grown to become a major force in the waste industry locally and is currently applying for planning consent to establish additional waste transfer facilities at Wretham where it bought a redundant feed mill a few years ago.

Woody’s started life in 1904 when current owner Roger Wickham’s grandfather began collecting scrap with a horse and cart. The firm is probably Norfolk’s largest provider of bulk tipper and muck away services to the construction industry and is selling the skip side of the company to focus on the core business.

Pearson’s MD Jo Pearson said: “The waste industry is changing fast as we move towards a zero landfill society. This acquisition will make us stronger, widen our trading area and enable us to remain competitive as increasing regulation increases our costs.”

The takeover gives Pearsons a fleet of more than 30 trucks servicing 3,000 skips and other waste collection containers throughout Nor-folk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.