A six-year-serving veteran from Clifton has opened a new waste business in York.
After struggling to conform to the 9-5 lifestyle, as well as dealing with family bereavement, Barry Bestford launched Waste Warriors at the end of October.
He hopes that his previous waste disposal experience and motivated mindset is enough for his new business to blossom.
Waste Warriors is a professional waste removal service for domestic and commercial waste within the city.
Following a troubled childhood, Barry joined the military in 2017 at the age of 24.
Originally joining the Yorkshire Regiment, he soon transferred regiments after seeing better opportunities within the Royal Logistic Corps.
As a Logistic Supply Specialist, Barry travelled the world and made lifelong friends, spending time in Belguim, Germany, Kenya, and Cyprus.
Unfortunately, a shoulder injury he sustained in 2022 meant the army days were over, and a number of personal setbacks followed his departure.
In the space of 12 months, Barry lost both his birth mother, and his foster mother who raised him.
Back on UK soil, he joined a couple of waste removal and skip companies.
As a member of staff, he wasn’t enjoying the 9-5 structure and began to ponder the idea of working for himself.
Barry told YorkMix: “I was just struggling to stick to a company timeframe. I just didn’t have the motivation to work for someone else.
“I just didn’t really want to work for anyone else. I wanted someone to call my own that I could build and be proud of instead of building someone else’s business for them,” he added.
Barry began building the groundworks for his business, drawing inspiration from his best friend who opened a similar waste company last year.
“My best friend of about 17 years recently opened up a business and suggested that I go into it with him, but I didn’t want to work for anyone else. I wanted to build something for myself and be proud of it. So I had a word with him, and he helped me set it up.” Barry told YorkMix.
Due to the nature of Barry’s injury, returning to the army wasn’t an option. His shoulder can dislocate itself and recovery time is essential.
As he now has the flexibility to construct his own working hours, Barry can adapt days around his rest days.
He said, “with working for a company, there’s only so many sick days you can actually take, so it was a bit tedious. But working for myself, I can work with customers to book jobs around it.”
Following the launch of Waste Warriors, Barry’s committed to delivering the best service he can.
“I’m a motivated person anyway, even when I’m at home I struggle to sit down for longer than five or ten minutes. I literally have to be doing something productive and keep myself busy, so I’m really enjoying it so far!” Barry explained.
If you’re in need of a waste removal job, a quote, or want to know more about the business, you can check out the Waste Warriors Facebook page here.