Cleanaway Waste Management's Vik Bansal says there was "absolutely a need for speed" in trying to fix the troubled company when he took over in 2015, as he admitted to conduct unbecoming a chief executive.

In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, Mr Bansal said it was "painful" to have the spotlight turned on him, following revelations he had been probed over a lengthy whistleblower complaint in May this year that alleged the chief executive had led a "culture of bullying and harassment".