First off, as Chair of LARAC, I’d like to welcome you to the new website – we hope you like the improvements we have made and that you find it easier to navigate. There’s been a lot of work in the background over the last few months to bring this about, but tweaks can still be made, so if you have any comments we’d be grateful to receive them. Get in touch at admin@larac.org.uk – Lee and Jenny will be pleased to receive any suggestions.
For myself, I’ve been in the happy position of being asked to the give the local authority view on many occasions over the last three months and in quite a few different arenas. The EFRA committee looking at food waste requested LARAC input and I gave evidence along with 2 officers from Hampshire and Merseyside Waste Authority. I was asked some fair but challenging questions about food waste collections, and what my thoughts were regarding industry calls to make them mandatory. One question which did take me a little by surprise was what my thoughts were around ‘pay as you throw’! After us it was the turn of industry to give evidence and they were represented by the ESA, ABDA and a London AD facility. EFRA has published its report, the recommendations of which we fully support. Later on, at the Waste Network Chairs Meeting, I met up with Robert Vaughn from DEFRA – he very much verified DEFRA’s position which he communicated at the January LARAC Exec meeting. He, once again, expressed DEFRA’s wish to engage with LA networks which is gratifying to know.
I was also asked to speak at the Energy from Waste conference, and whilst the event wasn’t really aimed at local authorities, it was good to know that they wanted to know about the local authority position and I was pleased to be in a position to inform them.
As LARAC Chair I spoke at a Public Policy Exchange event looking at the Circular Economy. And I was able to give our view directly to Therese Coffey at a recent steering group meeting for the Greater Consistency Recycling project where she made a brief appearance. As for the Consistency in Recycling project – the four work streams are progressing and WRAP is hoping to be able to speed the work along a bit in the coming months.
I also spoke at the Recycling Associations conference entitled ‘Quality First’. Another very interesting day! A keynote speech was given by Wayne Hemmingway MBE, about his life, and how re-use and recycling has played a major role in his and his wife’s business activities. He interestingly stated he thinks the next generation are turning to a more sustainable way of life, and we will see more of a traditional ‘make do and mend culture’ returning. Not sure about that myself, if my own children and their friends are anything to go by.
I then joined Wayne and others for a panel debate on recycling quality and circular economy principles.
Other notable speakers included Wade Schuetzeberg who gave a fascinating insight to the UK’s competitors in the global market, and how we can compete.
I have also been asked as LARAC Chair to sit on the steering group for the Government’s Litter Strategy announced in April – this is good news for LARAC and again demonstrates that our view is increasingly sought which means we have an ever-growing influential audience seeking us out to give the local authority view.
On a (nearly) final note, I was asked again to be on the judging panel for the EMG Awards for Excellence. I have to say there are some very innovative projects out there and lots of inspiring partnership working.
The final note is to congratulate our own 18 Scholarship winners who will attend our Conference in October at no cost to their authority, whatsoever.
