Resource Association chair Robbie Warden has welcomed government and public support for measures to tackle pollution after what he described as 12 months of uncertainty and surprises.
Robbie Warden, Resource Association chair and national sourcing manager at UPM
Addressing the audience at the second annual Resource Association Quality Recognition Awards event in London, earlier this week, Mr Warden, who is national sourcing manager for UPM, spoke of “a huge year of surprises, uncertainties and opportunities” in terms of China’s restrictions on quality, the trade tariffs war between the US and China, and “the great uncertainty of all – Brexit.”
However, he welcomed the “huge and continued” public support for actions on pollution and the Government “starting to take measures to address this issue”.
Mr Warden said: “Despite these turbulent times, the Resource Association remains steadfast in its commitment to place secondary material and its efficient recovery at the centre of its work and to champion the pivotal role our members recyclers and reprocessors play in advancing the resources economy.
“It’s fitting today to be able to celebrate the great work going on in the industry with our quality awards.”
And he took the opportunity to thank the Association’s board and members, as well as the Association’s chief executive, Ray Georgeson, and administrator, Carole Saul, for their “tireless commitment” throughout the year.
Plastic pollution
The event, at the National Liberal Club, also heard from environmental campaigner and founder of City to Sea, Natalie Fee.
City to Sea is a non-profit organisation running campaigns to stop plastic pollution at source. Its campaigns include the free tapwater initiative, ‘Refill’ and ‘Switch the Stick’, a cotton bud campaign which called on UK retailers to switch from plastic to paper stem buds.
Ms Fee spoke about some of the issues created by consumption of single use plastics followed by solutions and techniques to reduce plastics use. She said: “This is what we’re faced with now, plastics in every corner of the world. So we really are looking at this catastrophic environmental problem.”
Environmental campaigner, Natalie Fee, and Ray Georgeson, chief executive of the Resource Association
And referring to reports that the majority of plastics come from other countries, mostly in Asia, Ms Fee said: “I think it’s easy for us to say it’s not my problem it’s coming from far away but actually the reality is we are still exporting two third of our plastics I think to countries in Asia and we don’t really know what’s happening to it.”
“I’d love to know where the push points are for us as to how we can support and put pressure on the government to improve recycling here in the UK.”
Awards
The awards are given to selected local authorities and other recycling collectors that have been identified by Resource Association member for delivering high-quality recyclate for reprocessing.
Resource Association Quality Recognition Awards were presented to:
Hertfordshire Waste Partnership (nominated by Palm Recycling)
J&B Recycling Ltd (nominated by ACE UK)
HW Martin Waste Ltd (nominated by Novelis)
Newsprinters Ltd (nominated by UPM)
Next plc (nominated by DS Smith)
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Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic
