Waste data and the magic away place with Tom Passmore - Exploring Circular Tech: Technology isn't...

Technology isn't magic. And neither is the bin, even though most of us treat it like one. In this episode of HappyPorch Radio, Barry O'Kane speaks with Tom Passmore, CIO and co-founder of Dsposal, a company that has spent a decade building technology for the UK waste sector. Tom has a vivid way of describing the core problem: the moment someone decides they don't want something, it's dead to them. All the nostalgia, all the value, gone. It goes to the magic away place. But what actually happens in that magic away place matters enormously, and the UK has something most countries don't: roughly 10 years of structured public waste data. Dsposal's work is about joining that data together, building tools on top of it, and helping organisations move from simply complying with waste regulations to genuinely understanding what's happening with their waste and why. Tom is unusually candid about the pace of change. A customer portal his team built sat untouched for eight years before usage suddenly accelerated post-COVID. The data didn't change. The questions did. And that shift, from asking what and where to asking why, is where Tom sees real change beginning. The conversation also gets into the UK government's new Digital Waste Tracking programme, where Tom plays the role of critical friend, broadly supportive of the direction but direct about the gaps, particularly around who gets to see the data and whether phase two will track waste or just the vehicles carrying it. ✨ In this episode: • Tom explains why the "magic away place" mindset is the root problem in waste management • We explore the three public datasets that underpin Dsposal's products and what they reveal when connected • Tom describes the shift from compliance-driven questions to "why" questions, and what triggered it • Barry and Tom discuss Digital Waste Tracking: what's working, what's missing, and why the technology is the easy part • Tom shares what 10 years of building waste tech has taught him about naivety, humility, and behaviour change • We hear Tom's vision for using data to map every take-back scheme in the country, and his honest assessment of AI readiness in the waste sector 👤 About our guest: Tom Passmore is the CIO and co-founder of Dsposal, a web platform that has spent 10 years making waste management easier, more transparent, and more compliant for organisations across the UK. Dsposal works with universities, NHS trusts, science parks, local authorities, and small to medium waste management companies, connecting public waste data with tools that help users find legal waste outlets, track compliance, and increasingly drill into the why behind their waste patterns. Tom is an active voice in the UK waste data community, serves as a critical friend to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking programme, and is passionate about the untapped potential in the UK's public waste datasets. 🌍 About HappyPorch HappyPorch is a purpose-driven software engineering consultancy focused on the circular economy. Learn more: (https://www.happyporch.com?utm_source...) https://www.happyporch.com (https://www.happyporch.com?utm_source...) 💌 Subscribe to HappyPorch Circular News HappyPorch Circular News is our monthly newsletter for people working in and around the circular economy and technology. Subscribe at: https://www.happyporch.com/newsletter/ ▶️ Listen and subscribe Stream this episode on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...) , Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7gptVvO...) , Deezer (https://www.deezer.com/en/show/1627642) , iHeart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-ha...) , Pocket Casts (https://pocketcasts.com/podcasts/8d38...) — or wherever you get your podcasts.. Visit (https://www.happyporchradio.com) https://www.happyporchradio.com to explore more episodes. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy