On Wednesday 30th July RPS hosted a waste legislation seminar at The Wilton Centre, Redcar. The seminar, which was organised in partnership with NEPIC, invited guests to learn about recent legislation changes relating to handling hazardous waste.
The main presentation was given by Phil Pease, chairman of the Industrial Packaging Association, explaining the recent WM2 legislation introduction and how it affects the way businesses operate. The presentation generated some pertinent questions which Phil answered fully. There was a brilliant discussion after the presentation that helped to clarify the recent changes which includes handling packaging waste. After the uncertain introduction of the legislation the seminar was a brilliant opportunity to help clarify the changes for our attendees who took away some useful information for their own companies.
Phil Pease explaining the changes to WM2 Legislation
After digesting the information presented by Phil, RPS director Gary Hudson gave a presentation about the circular economy and how simple measures can be implemented into businesses to promote a more sustainable future. The primary message was to move away from a linear economy, where items are made and then disposed of, to a circular economy where items are made, re-manufactured or refurbished and reused. It’s not a new concept, as described by Gary. The Victorian’s used glass bottles which were reused time and time again, much like glass milk bottles today.
The presentation also engaged in why a circular economy is so important today with commodity prices increasing and natural resource dwindling. Engaging in a circular economy helps to reduce the burden on virgin materials, saves money by reusing items several times and reduces your carbon footprint as less energy is required to refurbish and reuse an item than manufacturing a brand new product.
Astley Fenwick of NEPIC presented the DEELOCSI scheme, which aims to help business grow more sustainable, providing help and advice on projects that businesses can implement. This includes using greener energy sources for example biomass boilers and solar panels. The scheme is open to small and medium North East businesses but will hopefully roll out to a wider geographical area as the successes are realised.
RPS would like to thank the attendees for their valuable feedback – we use the comments to improve our seminars and make sure they remain relevant. RPS would like to arrange future events to help bring like minded businesses together to discuss relevant reuse and recycling topics. If you have any presentation theme ideas please get in touch with RPS and we’ll put the wheels in motion to make it happen.
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