Case study: How Ushaw Historic House found a more flexible waste management solution

Ushaw Historic House is one of the North East’s most impressive and eye-catching tourist attractions. A former Catholic seminary, Ushaw is now a vibrant heritage destination and a place where “history, culture and people come together to create experiences beyond belief”.

Each year, Ushaw welcomes over 100,000 visitors through its gates to tour the house and gardens or attend one of the many events and exhibitions held on-site over the course of the year. From live concerts to the annual Classic Car and Bike Show to the 150 Years of Wedding Dresses exhibition, there’s something for everyone at Ushaw.

For Estates Manager, Ady Davis, the constant ebbs and flows in footfall presents a set of unique challenges for the Ushaw team – not least in managing the peaks and troughs in waste created by visitors. In fact, it was this challenge and the changes to waste management legislation introduced in April 2025, that led to his introduction to Everflow. Ady says,

“The introduction of Simpler Recycling regulations prompted us to review our waste management provision in 2025. Ushaw itself is spread over 540 acres of land and we have 54 independent businesses and a range of community groups who sublet land and premises from us who all have their own requirements and responsibilities as companies.

“With all these new changes to regulations, it’s been a learning process for us to ensure we comply with the requirements. As we weren’t entirely clear what our new waste management service needed to look like – in terms of number of bins or collections per week for each waste type – we simply knew that we needed a service that could be flexible in the first instance.

“We also knew that our provision would need to cater for vast changes in demand from season to season or even week to week. For example, our biggest events in the summer can see up to 5,000 people through the doors in one day versus hundreds of visitors on a quieter day. That has clear implications for our bins around the estate and the amount of food waste generated in our café. During peak times, our waste volume can be five times higher than our baseline requirement.”

Ady continues,

“Everflow is very customer-focused and understands our need for flexibility. The team are always happy to help us as a business, both when learning about new waste management regulations and when managing our variable waste needs.

“Having a dedicated account manager at Everflow has been very useful because we know who we’re dealing with each time – it makes communication much more personal and efficient. With our account manager’s help, we’ve been able to regularly adjust the frequency of waste collections and get additional bins as needed.”

As the summer season approaches, Ushaw Historic House is preparing for a number of exciting events, including the Classic Car and Bike Show at the end of May, a specialist plant and garden fair in June, a summer arts and crafts show in July, and the Dinosaur Takeover show in August, with Everflow as their trusted partner for waste management.

 

Want to find out how we can help you manage your waste disposal more effectively? Get a quote.