Resource Efficiency & Waste Management

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure – so says Lord Sugar!

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 16 April 2012

The Apprentice tackles furniture re-use and upcycling…

Effective delivery of new waste infrastructure in the South East

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 12 April 2012

Business waste management infrastructure in London & the SE – overcoming barriers and maximising opportunities?

UK Government’s resource scarcity action plan – what’s in it for UK business?

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director | Tim Curtis, Director of Group Operational Development on 4 April 2012

 

The Apprentice does composting – a win for the boys but ‘no smelling of roses’

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 30 March 2012

The Apprentice Develops A New Houeshold Food Waste Bin

New born babies challenge the rationale for alternate weekly collections!

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 29 February 2012

Ill-prepared for fatherhood

The iESE waste framework contract – will it deliver what it promises?

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 31 January 2012

I guess for those of us in the waste management sector you must have been on a desert island for the last few weeks for you to have not noticed the launch of the Government’s new waste services framework which is currently being procured by iESE  (Improvement and Efficiency South East - one of nine Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships funded by the UK Government).

The role of Energy from Waste in a modern sustainable resource management economy

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 6 January 2012

The UK produces approximately 100 million tonnes of solid waste every year (excluding construction and demolition materials), and even if we hit 70% recycling levels that leaves at least 30 million tonnes of waste to be managed.  Waste reduction efforts and exceeding targets where possible will bring this figure down further, but the implication is that there is plenty of residual waste that needs to be managed, and landfill is no longer a viable or acceptable solution given a number of current EU Directives.

Budgeting for UK Waste Infrastructure?

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 15 December 2011

It’s been a few weeks since George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, launched his Autumn Statement. This was probably not a landmark day for those of us employed in the waste sector, as we continue to fear for the delivery of sustainable collection services and the necessary infrastructure to help us meet our EU Directive targets in a world facing budget cuts and funding worries. However, he also announced the publication of a National Infrastructure Plan setting out the government’s strategy for developing infrastructure across many sectors, including waste management.

The Next Generation? Boldly going where no waste manager has gone before

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste management on 23 September 2011

What were you doing on Saturday 17th September 2011? I was attending the Next Generation Annual Careers Event hosted by the CIWM in Warwick. It was the second day of the conference which had seen presentations on the Friday covering current hot topics from WRAP, the Welsh Assembly, Zero Waste Scotland, LARAC and a host of other well-known speakers, including our own Knowledge Leader Euston Ling who provided an excellent overview of waste management at the Sydney Olympics (he was the waste contract manager) and what London 2012 needs to do to improve on this.

Waste Planning - more hurdles, less progress

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 29 July 2011

Waste Planning has been one of the most significant concerns for the waste sector over the last 5 years, halting our drive towards the delivery of waste processing and treatment infrastructure in all corners of the UK, and even putting AEA support projects at risk – the EfW plant in Cornwall was delayed by several years because of local community challenges until a very recent decision by Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government). There have been examples of large scale EfW plants (Cory’s Riverside plant in Belvedere for example) that have taken 15 years to successfully negotiate the planning system, and I doubt anyone would claim that the planning applications and constant appeals and hearings can offer local tax payers anything like value for money. Things need to change.