I’ve got to admit it, my post-holiday blues and cocktail withdrawal are nothing compared to the feelings I have about the malaise afflicting our sector at this time.
The leadership race for the new PM has put the brakes on a lot of progress that could have been made in resource management policy with the process being used to delay any announcements. If we measure progress by the output of consultations and policy decisions, then Scotland are leading the way, so well done them.
The good news is that we are now only five weeks away from one of the biggest and best conferences every year for our sector, our very own LARAC conference at the NEC Hilton Metropole in Birmingham. This year we have sold out exhibitor and delegate places faster than ever so I know we will be in for an excellent event.
I’m going to be making a few trips over to Northern Ireland during September. First to the ADBA NI conference in Belfast on the 21st and then to the DAERA waste management strategy pre-consultation workshop on the 29th. It is important we keep LARAC connected with other organisations and national government there, and it provides an opportunity to meet LARAC members on home ground (so to speak).
It is concerning that environmental policies seem to be under attack from opponents using the current cost of living crisis as the new weapon of choice. Some of the popular press have started to call EPR the “recycling tax”. Green policies passed by previous governments are now mentioned as unaffordable or bonkers on certain right of centre radio programmes, which I listen to based on a “know your enemy” principle. We are again in the position of defending circular economy and environmentally sustainable policies against a populist media looking for divisive issues to generate discord or promote their alternative beliefs.
There is no doubt that the war in Ukraine and the economic woes it has caused are not environmentally based. But the droughts and fires across Europe and the impact on crops and agriculture they cause are. I have no doubt that flooding will increase this winter as the rainfall we are so desperate for meets the bone dry hard packed earth forged this summer. Waste disposal can be better managed to help the environment and reduce pollution, but opportunities to replace the extraction of raw materials with secondary material sourced from recycling, or the reduction of consumption through reuse and refurbishment, are strategies we can do now to help with these environmental challenges. I know from marking our award submissions that our members are implementing these now and have some fantastic ideas and learning to share.
But we will soldier on, increasing our knowledge and trying to turn that into better policies to make a real difference. The LARAC annual conference is an excellent opportunity to learn of new ideas and successful projects and I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can over the two days.
