Seven principles for success in waste ventures

I came across a post today on The Smarter Business Blog about lessons learned in starting a sustainable business, and it gave me to thinking about what might be some principles for success in waste ventures.

First, let me get the cynicism out of the way. The greatest principle for success in waste ventures is to run a landfill, especially if your local regulator doesn't like landfill. The barriers to entry will be so high, and you will have such a stranglehold on the market that you will be too big to fail. All sorts of sins will be forgiven because the waste needs a home.

There, that's out of the way. I'm not interested in landfill.

The success factors for responsible waste ventures are common to the success factors in the blog. Some I would list from my own experience.are:

1. Have passion. Do what you believe in, and believe in something big. I think that stars in the waste world truly believe that they will change the world.
2. Make an awesome culture. People really believe about waste, and people need to make their views real. A great culture lets this happen. It really isn't good enough to "do culture" by a retreat for management followed by a few damp squib programmes. Live it, breath it, talk it every chance you get. Let you decisions be guided by the culture. Make the venture the sort of place where people feel they can be them, explore themselves. Never sell out your culture for some other "more important" issue (including finances). Nothing is more important than a lived culture. It doesn't even need to cost money.
3. Have courage. Waste is fundamentally conservative, and if you are doing something new, most people will tell you it can't be done. Lines like "if that was possible, others would already be doing it". Or "we tried that 30 years ago and it didn't work".
4. Play to win, but be prepared to lose. Waste is a complicated business beneath a mask of simplicity. You will make mistakes navigating your way. Many mistakes. Be prepared. Persist, but at the same time keep a weather eye out for clues that things won't get better and it is all best cut loose.
5. Make a decision. Perfection is not that important in a waste venture. You can always go back and fix things once you've started them. Not ideal, but far better than not starting at all.
6. Let things grow, rather than assume it is built fully grown. There are so many wrecks of waste businesses where capital is invested for the full scale operations, disregarding that full scale may not happen for years. You don't need polished stainless steel for your first go. A rough-as-guts version is good enough to start. Do that, save your money to grow your business and become profitable.
7. Have a life. It's all too easy when you are changing the world to cram your life full with it. Don't. Read fiction, have a hobby, enjoy your family, work civilised hours. Do the human stuff. Waste is, at heart, a human experience. You need to be human, and you will benefit from the new perspective that come from stepping out of the bubble.

I don't claim that these are comprehensive, but they are a starting point for me.

I'd welcome your thoughts.