The only regret Jason Mohr has about starting his on-demand waste disposal business is that he spent so long on the trucks themselves. "I spent the first nine months clearing rubbish. It was a good way to get customer feedback, but it wasn't an efficient use of my time," admits the former investment banker.

Since Mohr began to focus on building a solid business platform and internal systems, Any Junk? has grown from a two-man band in 2004 to 45 staff covering most of southern England. This year it aims to go national, underpinned by some "key large contracts".

Having first focused on the residential market, Mohr then targeted businesses. Large office clearances can generate 70 to 80 truckloads of waste, much of which can be broken down, thereby reducing the cost of recycling, which is charged by volume. "This means we can charge less than a skip," says Mohr. Any Junk? also recoups money through the resale value of goods such as office furniture, of which 50 per cent is given back to the client and 25 per cent goes to the truck teams for bonuses.

Although Any Junk? is not "green obsessive", it recycles what it can and takes reusable things such as furniture and bric-a-brac to charity. Mohr wants to be able to provide a waste audit trail. "More companies are reporting on this kind of stuff and need to know where their waste ends up," he says. Mohr likes to let people get on with their jobs. "I don't want to have a business that is dependent on me. I wanted something I was in control of and that wasn't controlling me—that's why I left banking."