Velo Recycling: Forge Founder Buys SBT Skip Hire

Harvey Mills, who sold Forge Recycling to Biffa in 2022, is back in the waste business — and has bought Yeadon’s SBT Skip Hire to build a new Yorkshire operator

The entrepreneur who built and sold one of Leeds’ best-known waste companies is back with a new one. Velo Recycling, founded by Harvey Mills, has completed the acquisition of Yeadon-based SBT Skip Hire as it builds a commercial waste and recycling business across Yorkshire. Mills previously founded Forge Recycling, which he sold to listed operator Biffa in 2022. The deal, completed in June, pairs the new firm’s commercial waste ambitions with SBT’s established skip-hire operation and transfer station, and marks Mills’ return to the sector after three years away.

Why This Matters For Leeds

A founder who has already built and sold a substantial local business, and is choosing to start again in the city rather than retire or move on, brings experience, jobs and momentum back to the regional economy. If Velo grows the way Forge did, it could become another sizeable Yorkshire employer — and a future deal in its own right.

What Velo Recycling Has Bought

SBT Skip Hire has traded for more than 20 years, serving households and businesses across Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and the Wharfedale Valley, and runs a fleet of skip and roll-on/roll-off vehicles alongside a transfer station. Under the deal, customers keep the same local service while gaining additional investment and resources. The enlarged business now operates from depots in Leeds and Yeadon. Harvey Mills has form here: his previous company, Forge Recycling, was a business generating around £15m in revenue when Biffa bought it in 2022 for an upfront £15.9m, in a deal advised by Leeds law firm Clarion. The new venture says its senior management team brings more than 70 years of combined experience in waste and recycling.

“The launch marks Harvey Mills’ return to the industry three years after the sale of Forge Recycling to Biffa.”

— Velo Recycling

Building a New Yorkshire Waste Operator

Alongside the skip-hire acquisition, Velo Recycling is expanding into commercial waste collections, running a dedicated fleet of trade waste vehicles across Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Halifax and Brighouse. It offers the full range of trade containers and says all collections use its own vehicles, with recyclable materials processed separately at licensed facilities. The strategy echoes the one that built Forge: start local, add services and acquisitions, and grow into a regional operator. Waste and recycling rarely make headlines, but they are steady, contract-backed businesses underpinned by tightening regulation on how firms handle their waste. For Leeds, a proven operator building another one from the city is an encouraging sign, and the company has moved quickly in its first few months of trading.