Mr Harrison died on the evening of Friday, January 23. He leaves two daughters and four grandchildren. His wife, Marion died in 2006.
Mike Hellings, current managing director of Viridor Waste Management, paid tribute to his former colleague.
He said: “It was a great privilege to have worked with Mike throughout this time. He taught me the importance of strategy and to look forward and not back. I admired the way he adapted from being a proprietor into a corporate environment avoiding politics”.
“His great strengths were his vision, detailed knowledge of our industry and an ability to let his managers manage”, he added.
History
Michael (Mike) Harrison was born in Oxford on September 15, 1933, and educated at Maughdlen School. In 1956, Mike's father Charles formed C W Harrison (Western) Ltd, the company that would eventually become Viridor, as a West Country liquid waste management firm.
Mike and Marion received four Bedford liquid waste tankers as a wedding present in March 1957, and took over all customers south of the Mendip Hills, which are south of Bristol.
With Marion in the office, Charles a director, and Mike drumming up business – in what Viridor describes as “the straight talking style for which he became renowned” – the first depots at Bridgwater and Street in Somerset and Exeter in Devon were kept busy.
Over the next 50 or so years, Viridor said that Mr Harrison's vision helped the firm to develop into one of the UK's leading recycling and resource management companies.
Milestones included the relocation of the offices to the Harrison's home in Taunton in 1959 and the early use of call centres in Dorset and Devon in the 1960s. By 1967 the company's name had been changed to Harrison Western Ltd and dry waste collection services started.
Within a decade, the business had been bought by English China Clays and was renamed Haul Waste – a name it was to retain until it became Viridor in 1999.
During this time the company expanded into landfill operations, and greatly increased the size of its road haulage fleet of waste management vehicles.
Following his retirement in 1994, Mike, and Marion, continued to take a strong interest in Viridor's progress, while also devoting time to their family, new work areas and leisure interests which included bridge and cruising. He also served as a director with Viridor Credits Environmental Ltd, the environment body distributing funds via the Landfill Communities Fund. He greatly enjoyed Viridor's Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2006, and remained in contact with many old friends and former colleagues.
Mr Harrison's funeral will take place at noon on Thursday, February 5, at Taunton Crematorium.
Subscribe for free