This year’s CIWM Cymru Resource Conference was a chance to get to grips with how devolved waste policy is operating here (LARAC is based in Wales) and catch up with loads of colleagues from my Powys County Council days. Also as a member of CIWM it is good to go and support the events that it put on for its members.
The day kicked off with a Welsh Government Minister, but interestingly it was the Minister for Finance and Government Business and not Environment. This helped put waste in a wider context and also reminded us ow progressive Welsh Government is with its waste policy, which is just one strand of a very ambitious sustainability plan.
Regardless of your view on the European debate it was engaging and refreshing to hear from an official from the EU. Sometimes it needs someone to state the obvious, with passion, to make you remember that a lot of how consumption and production currently operates is just plain mad when it comes to the environment and sustainability.
One theme that came out of the day was how many times we heard that we need to be more joined up with all parts of the chain – or the circle. That is crucial if we are going to get more products designed for recyclability and use less of them in the first place. Mind you I would be interested to attend the equivalent design conferences and listen to hear if those delegates are say the same thing or if they bemoan how the recycling industry needs to change to cope with the materials they generate. If they did then they would be right, just as we in our sector are right about the product design needing to change. It is right I think that we question how we operate as an industry and how we can do more to do our bit towards one planet living.
For me the sign of a good event is how much your head hurts at the end of it because it has got you thinking. This CIWM event got me thinking about a number of things, not least how we support our Welsh members as they strive for ever higher targets and how best we input into the reviews on waste policy that Welsh Government will be undertaking. I know time is tight and resources are thin for local authority officers now but getting out of the officer once in a while to events like this is worth it in my opinion. It gives you the thinking time we don’t always get day to day – and it is this thinking time that may well help you to shape your services going forward.
