SUEZ recycling and recovery UK’s Managing Director of Energy, Tim Otley, sat down with Izzy Felton to discuss his career at SUEZ spanning three decades, the future of landfill and how his love for geology took him into the world of waste.

“Perhaps I’ve always been a treasure hunter at heart,” says Tim Otley, Managing Director of Energy at SUEZ recycling and recovery UK. It was that fascination with what lies beneath the surface that first led him to study Geology at the University of Manchester – a decision that would eventually shape a decades-long career transforming waste into energy.

His degree was specifically in environmental and resource geology and focused more on the industrial side of geology. Then, after a master’s from the University of Hull in environmental policy and management – broadening his understanding of the law and policy – Tim moved to Manchester in search of a job. “I looked at roles with people like the Environment Agency and was unsuccessful, which I find amusing these days.” Especially as the call Tim had after our interview was with the EA. “And then I got an opportunity for an opening somewhere else.”

That opening was a job at a family-owned landfill company called Midland Land Reclamation Limited. Despite being owned by SUEZ, the landfill site was still very much run by its original owner and Tim was trained in the owner’s hands-on methodology of cost control.

“My first lessons in the business were to sit on a weighbridge. [The owner] told me that you only learn this business when you're at the cash machine at the front end. That's where everything happens,” Tim explained. “And it did give me a fantastic insight into the mechanics of the duty of care, the management of waste, as well as some of the challenges around managing weighbridges. So, I really cut my teeth into the operational side.”

With his geotechnical background, they got him running all sorts of investigations too – from installations of boreholes to monitoring and standing by drilling rigs.

And to be honest, I loved that. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to be outside. I wanted a profession where I wasn't in an office. I didn't imagine ever managing people. And I certainly didn't see myself in the position I'm in now.”

Over time, Tim became responsible for more and more, taking a keen interest in landfill gas generation and renewable energy. After moving into a more technical role to manage Suez’s landfill gas projects, with his colleague Stuart Hayward Higham, the pair set up a business plan to consolidate landfill gas projects nationally in response to the growing renewables obligation framework of the early 2000s.

When I look at the levels of percentage of renewable generation on the wires now to our aspirations back then, it almost seems unachievable. I think a theme throughout is at times we as a country do ourselves a disservice and play down what we’re capable of.”

However, despite loving the business he was working in, Tim started to question if landfill gas would see out his career. That’s where energy from waste comes in. At that point in his career, EfW sat at arm’s length from his work. SUEZ had facilities in Teeside, Kirklees and a contract with the government in the Isle of Man. The latter was Tim’s way in when he went out to renegotiate their 25-year contract in 2009. While the plant manager at the time had an extensive knowledge of EfW, he didn’t necessarily have a contractual background – so Tim made a deal. “I said I would take to the contractual commercial side, and he would teach me how an energy from waste plant works in return. That was really my first step into energy from waste.”

From there, Tim took on more of the commercial contractual aspects of their northern portfolio, eventually gaining full responsibility for all commercial operations across SUEZ’s EfW facilities and contracts. Tim then focused his efforts on implementing the systems, processes and standardisation that they had achieved on the Northern fleet down in the South of England. Creating consistency throughout the business. “If you go into site A and then go into site B, you'll have a very similar feel. Visual management and a feeling of the site being in control.”

Today, as Managing Director of Energy at SUEZ UK, Otley is responsible for a fleet of ten EfW facilities, one advanced thermal gasifier, and the company’s national portfolio of landfills and landfill gas generation. A portfolio that generated over 250,000 MWh of energy in 2024 from landfill gas alone.

But what is next for Tim – someone whose career has, it seems, transitioned alongside the industry? One focus is the second life of landfill; with fewer than four active sites remaining in SUEZ’s network, the company is exploring biodiversity net gain, solar development, and advanced restoration techniques.

And then there is Carbon Capture (CCS). Last year, SUEZ applied for funding from the Industrial Carbon Capture Track-1 Expansion project from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, to build the carbon capture technology at their facility in Teesside. “We certainly see the decarbonisation and the route to net zero requiring carbon capture and storage. As does this government and the last. It is going to be key and energy from waste really does provide a fantastic opportunity to do that.”

Tim remains vocal about the challenges and opportunities ahead in the industry. The impending expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), anticipated landfill bans, and tighter RDF controls are creating uncertainty. Tim explained that SUEZ has advocated for RDF and landfill bans to be rolled out to support the ETS, otherwise, you run the risk of ETS “driving waste west” towards landfill.

He stressed the importance of getting it right:

We as a country don't acknowledge the importance of waste management. We’re looking at 25,000,000 tonnes of municipal waste residual waste arising – which is mind-boggling. But that means we can't shy away from the fact that [more waste] keeps coming and we need reliable technology and infrastructure to ensure that the streets are clean, and people's bins are picked up.

We still see energy from waste as a transitional technology – and we always did see it as a transitional technology – but it's really about finding something that's robust enough, can operate at that scale and is technically reliable [to deal with it all].”

A common theme amongst all of our spotlight interviewees is that they like to move along with the landscape of the industry around them - whether that's through jobs working in policy, working on the commercial side of waste, or being on the ground, in the facilities themselves. It's fair to say Tim has covered all three:

Every day [in this industry] is different. Throughout my career, when I think I’m at a point where I’ve got to a crossroads, there was always this huge shift. One minute I might be on a restored ball clay pit in Dorset, the next minute I might be standing trying to look at the optimisation of combustion on a gasifier. I'm certainly not outside as much as I used to be but still have that variety because of the breadth of the portfolio I'm responsible for.”

After our call, Tim sent over an email: “I forgot to say that my love of geology and searching for treasures still results in an inner calling for me to go off gold mining in the Klondike one day!”

Perhaps Tim’s next move in his career will take him back outside again – featuring on a Discovery Channel programme, digging for gold. But until then, he’s focused on a different kind of treasure.

By Izzy Felton