I am London based in my day job, so it is really refreshing to travel to other parts of the UK to learn about the waste management issues in other areas.
I had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago to travel up to Scotland for the LARAC conference in Glasgow, which was very well attended and a great success. I connected with a number of Scottish Local Authorities and got to know more about some of the areas they are focussing on. In particular, there was a lot of talk about the delay to the DRS which was announced the week before. This has now been pushed back to March 2024, however, despite the delays, there was still a lot of support in the room for the scheme, and I learnt first hand about the enormous amount of work that is going on behind the scenes to get DRS up and running.
There was also a lot of discussion, and interesting presentations about POPs legislation. In essence, Scotland are addressing the same issues as the other devolved nations in terms of both DRS and POPs, so in that respect, we are all united.
This week I am travelling over to Belfast to engage in some waste banter with my colleagues and representatives from Local Authorities across Northern Ireland. This is a first for LARAC, and I am hoping that we will be able to establish a yearly conference there, alongside the conferences that we hold in the other devolved nations.
There will of course be lots to discuss in Belfast, including Northern Irelands ambitions in relation to climate change, circular economy and net zero, in addition to DAERAs proposals for Local Authority waste management services.
So its good to get out and about, and although each nation has its own individual approaches to some policy areas – consistency for example – there is certainly the feeling that we are all moving towards the same goals and that the policies that are being put in place are helping to support these. Lets hope that in 10 years time, we can look back and see that these policies and activities have made a big difference and helped the UK as a whole move to a much more circular economy.
However, in order to do this, we need not only clarity but significant funding and support, which LARAC continues to lobby hard for behind the scenes, engaging with all key stakeholders to get the best outcome for our members.
And finally…..we need the consistency response! (Well, you didn’t think I would be able to complete my blog without mentioning it did you?)
Lets hope we will have better news on this when I write my next blog in a months time.
