22nd April 2015
The upcoming elections and political promises are undoubtedly the main issue for UK waste-watchers. The Resource Association’s ‘Manifesto for resources 2015‘, issued at the end of March posed some interesting and challenging suggestions for the consideration of all political parties running up to the May General Election. Having recently completed some work for the EU on systematic eco-design innovation, the
17th December 2014
With all the debate going on around the EU position on the circular economy at present, emotion can sometimes cloud our view, so it can be useful to stand back and consider the underlying reasons behind the various opposing opinions. While many in our sector are more than a little disappointed by the European Commission’s view, I can at least
5th February 2014
I recently had the pleasure of taking part in a debate about re-use, as a panellist at an industry event in London. The people and discussions were fascinating and inspirational, but what really intrigued me was the aspiration, complexity and also the terminology used to describe various re-use activities. Currently there are many relatively small schemes seeking to make use
14th January 2014
Two years ago, SITA UK published a document called ‘Driving Green Growth’ , which aimed to help Government understand the potential of the waste and resource recovery industry. We listed the potential opportunities, which included: Investment of £20-£25 billion 84,000 direct and indirect new jobs Millions of tonnes of resources recovered and reinserted into the economy A 10 per cent
11th December 2013
We are just emerging from one of the hardest and longest recessions in living memory. Thankfully, the economy is looking far healthier than it did a year ago, with construction activities picking up and manufacturing starting on the road to recovery. This last point was made clear to me recently at the Manufacturer Directors’ Conference in Birmingham, where I experienced
3rd December 2013
The waste-to-resource sector is one of the most active, rapidly growing and capital-intensive sectors in the UK at this time. Our sector has a value in excess of £12 billion and directly employs well over 100,000 people. It reportedly grew at a rate of 3.1 per cent this year and is expected to grow by more than four per cent next
28th October 2013
Energy policy and practice has a lot in common with the waste hierarchy, where minimisation is the first thing to look at. If we all want to keep our fuel bills down, we should try to reduce what we use and then find more sustainable ways of using the energy we need. Making more sustainable energy is a good goal
21st October 2013
Tesco gave some challenging insight to food waste in their report “Tesco and Society: Using our Scale for Good” issued today. Nearly 30,000 tonnes of waste food from the supply chain, store and customer is a big target to work towards, but by my calculations this amounts to around 25kg per Tesco store per day or assuming Tesco’s 30 per
16th October 2013
Earlier this week the Environment Agency issued a report on waste crime (‘Cracking Down on Waste Crime. Waste Crime Report 2012-2013‘). The report acknowledged that while there has been an increase in the crackdown on illegal waste management activity, crime is a significant issue in our sector. It is difficult to appreciate the localised impact of that crime, in the
10th October 2013
Talking to Radio 4’s ‘Costing the Earth’ programme about landfill mining and the resources that have been embedded in landfill sites over the last 50 years, followed by a meeting where we contemplated the future of the waste sector in a sustainable resource economy, has given me an opportunity to reflect. Looking back and understanding what we as a society
