Jen named new MD at waste specialist giant CSG

03 July 2025 by CSG

Experienced industry expert Jen Cartmell has been announced as the new Managing Director of leading waste management specialist CSG.

Jen has replaced Neil Richards, who has become the Group’s new Chairman.

Highly-respected Neil has overseen CSG’s rise to become a £120m powerhouse over 13 remarkably successful years in the top post.

The move was approved by the Board of Directors on June 25.

Jen has been with CSG for 19 years having started out as a senior chemist before moving up to Site Manager at the company’s flagship Cadishead base.

She successfully assisted the site in achieving the ISO 14001 certification, introduced new systems and was promoted to Treatment Director in 2019, working closely with Neil on the overall development of the business.

Jen, 48, said: “I never saw myself working in waste when I did my environmental chemistry degree – and I certainly didn’t imagine myself as an MD.

“But I quickly found I loved the industry. It’s innovative, exciting and really fulfilling. I have learned a huge amount from Neil’s tutoring and I am excited to start this new chapter, both personally and for the business.

“It’s a huge legacy to take on but we’re really ambitious to keep growing. I want CSG to be the best it can be and I’m excited to see the direction we can continue to go, building on a very strong foundation.

“Neil’s ethos has always been around developing people – and that won’t change at all.”

Neil said he was confident in Jen’s ability to steer the business into a new era.

“This is the right time to step aside from the Managing Director’s Role, for both me and the business,” he said.

“There will be a transitional period during which I carry on the projects I’ve started, but Jen will be in charge of the business, and I have full confidence in her to lead CSG to even greater success.

“It’s been both a privilege and a great adventure over the last 20 years being heavily involved in the growth of the business.”

Neil, 69, started at CSG as Operations Manager at its Cadishead site in 2002 having previously been Operations Manager for a major U.S. chemical company.

It quickly became apparent that the Cadishead site had significant problems both operationally and financially as well as having a difficult relationship with the Environment Agency.  This was becoming a significant burden for CSG, casting doubt on the future of the site.

Neil said: “I could see that the site had great potential so, with the threat of sale or even closure, I drew up an action plan and presented it to the local management.  This proved to be a turning point as the company approved the plan, the sale was deferred and a much-reduced team and I were given the site to run with the aim of making it operationally cash positive by the end of 2003.

“Staffing levels had to be reduced from 77 to 12 people and the focus switched from high volume, low margin sales to more technically difficult waste streams that the site excelled in.

“The Cadishead site moved into profit by the end of 2004 and CSG’s oil treatment plants were added to the treatment side of the business in 2005. Over the last 20 years this business has multiplied its profits by 60 whilst merely doubling the staff.

“We had a very strong and able team. This type of growth is always possible when you empower talented and committed people.”

Neil was appointed to the Board in 2008 and named MD in 2012. He has since led the 91-year-old business to unprecedented success with a philosophy based on empowering and enabling people. Turnover has reached £120m with profits of £13m and a headcount of more than 650 across 30 sites.

Neil said: “We have grown the business both organically and by 15 acquisitions over the past 17 years which has added both prosperity and diversity to the business.

“The key theme has always been the quality of people we employ and providing them with an environment in which they could thrive.

“We enjoy diversity in the business and diversity in the people.

“The foundations are there for Jen to build on and I have no doubt that she will. This business has the potential to double its turnover in the next 10 years.”

Today CSG is one of the most diverse waste management operations in the country, offering domestic waste haulage, wastewater engineering, waste treatment and recovery, industrial cleaning and consultancy services.

Jen said she is focussed on bringing new systems and consistency across the whole business, ensuring every member of staff across all 30 bases hears the same message, while continuing with sustainable investment across the Group.

CSG is family-owned by shareholders Heather and Hilary Hart – the daughters of founder Bunny Hart. Heather is still actively involved in the business and her daughter Janet is a Non-Executive Director.

Jen said: “We value being a family-owned business. It means we can make big decisions very quickly. We’ve embraced the family and the family have embraced us.”

There are challenges ahead as CSG looks to the future – but Jen is ready to face them head-on.

“There is plenty to think about, but every challenge the industry has posed to this point we have responded to,” she said. “Moving forward, how do we remove reliance on landfill? How do we pursue Net Zero?

“We have some fantastic ideas and plans, but bureaucracy is a major problem. It can take two years or more to get a variation on a permit. That does not support a dynamic industry.

“But we will keep pushing forward and towards a sustainable future, because being sustainable is what customers demand. A sustainable business is one which will be here for the next 20 years and beyond.”