January 27th, 2012
I spent last weekend in Abu Dhabi – not catching a bit of winter sun, unfortunately, but cocooned inside an air-conditioned modern hotel. I was there to present to Middle Eastern private sector waste professionals, interested to gain a European perspective on the likely future for the industry in their part of the world. It was an interesting challenge thinking about what they could learn from the European experience.
January 25th, 2012
by Phillip Ward
For those who don’t know it, Rezolve is a social enterprise based in Bodmin. It has a number of lines of business based around the re-use of furniture, white goods and bikes. It prevents around 30 tonnes of waste each month from going to landfill, thereby avoiding 120 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Integral to all this are its training activities. Until recently Rezolve has been very successful – winning the award for the best third sector business in Cornwall and being shortlisted for the equivalent England-wide award last year. I am proud to be a non-executive director.
January 18th, 2012
One of the most positive-sounding features of the Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011 was the introduction of the Waste Prevention Loan Fund (WPLF), to “enable organisations to introduce business models and processes which make more efficient use of material resources.”
January 17th, 2012
by Phillip Ward
“Bin Fines Set for the Scrapheap” is the headline in Defra’s press release but the consultation document it announces is significantly more modest in its ambitions.
First, it seems fines are not going to be scrapped, merely reduced in size and perhaps changed from criminal to civil penalties. In waste hierarchy terms, it sounds more like fines being reused than disposed of – but, as with waste, that is to be preferred.
January 16th, 2012
During the Christmas break, I left my in-laws’ house in Swansea and drove with my wife and children to Oxwich, on the Gower Peninsula. As I often do, particularly when visiting beaches, I took a bag to pick up any litter. Typically this litter tends to be plastic, but on this occasion our walk took us up through the woods, where I soon filled the bag with discarded aluminium drinks cans.
