Resource Efficiency & Waste Management

Are you a criminal?

Posted by Lucy Shields, Senior Consultant – Waste Management & Resource Efficiency on 25 April 2013

We sang songs in primary school assembly about litter, from memory the words went a little bit like this;

Spring 2013 – The heat is ON

Posted by Simon Gouldman and Maria Vinogradova on 22 April 2013

We may not have had much sunshine so far this spring but there has been plenty of heat radiating from Energy from Waste projects and facilities – and I’m not just talking about incinerators. 

Is the British public producing less waste or becoming more resource efficient, and does it matter?

Posted by Dr Adam Read on 17 April 2013

A recent article in The Economist[http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21576139-people-are-throwing-out-lessbut-not-because-they-are-recycling-more-waste-not] sparked some interesting debate in the office earlier this week, making us think about the way in which household waste is being managed in the UK, particularly the way households and consumers deal with unwanted, broken and discarded products and packaging. The article declares that people are throwing out less than in previous years (at least since sensible records begun in the 1980s) and attributes this to a mixture of changed eating habits and the current economic climate however it fails to reach a solid conclusion, something that could be set for a number of recent research studies and policy papers by Government and their delivery bodies. So what is happening to household recycling in the UK? And is progress continuing to be made?

Energy futures – is Australia missing out?

Posted by Dr Adam Read and Simon Gandy on 13 March 2013

October’s Energy White Paper, produced by the Australian federal government, sets out a new strategic policy framework to address the challenges in Australia’s energy sector and further position the Australian economy for a long-term transformation in the way energy is produced.

Waste infrastructure capacity

Posted by Simon Gandy, Principal Consultant on 7 March 2013

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Does the UK have over capacity issues?

Posted by Simon Gandy, Maria Vinogradova and Dr Adam Read on 19 February 2013

Ricardo-AEA has been involved in discussions about the state of the UK’s waste infrastructure landscape.

Waste facilities progress – a bird’s eye view

Posted by Maria Vinogradova on 15 February 2013

Perhaps in other jobs there is time to contemplate post-festive January blues and gently ease in to the new calendar year. 

Don’t recycle! Redesign

Posted by David Lerpiniere: Knowledge Leader for Waste Procurement on 9 January 2013

The UK has made great strides in recycling. Most local authorities provide a range of recycling services allowing householders to recycle a range of materials, including glass, paper, card and food. Businesses are also making progress. Recycling rates for commercial and industrial wastes has increased from 42% in 2002/03 to over 50% today.

A Game of Facilities – Falcon updates go live….. how fantasy TV inspires data capture and usage…

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 23 November 2012

As an avid science fiction and fantasy book reader and film goer, you won’t be surprised to hear that I can be found on Monday nights settling down to watch the latest instalment of the award winning series ‘Game of Thrones’ on Sky Atlantic. This interpretation of the George R. R. Martin novels is great escapism from the daily thrust of waste policy, infrastructure procurement and community engagement, or so I thought …….. there is far more to this show than you might expect, and lots of commonality with the UK waste sector.

The Pickles Fund - inappropriate and misguided or giving the public what they want?

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director: Resource Efficiency & Waste Management on 23 November 2012

The cat is finally out of the bag (and the pickles are out of the jar), as the months of waiting and the constant delays are finally over. As of the 22nd November 2012 some 90 projects will be ‘benefiting’ from the £250 million DCLG grant programme, which was designed some 12 months ago to return local authorities back to weekly collections. For over a year Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has waged his campaign for the “human right” of a weekly bin service and against pretty much the entire waste sector, its collection contractors and industry commentators. The evidence from the sector has been pretty clear to date, alternate weekly collections work, they are publically acceptable and the efficiencies they deliver allow additional services like weekly food waste scheme to be delivered. But Pickles and his team continued to wade against the tide of industry opinion, including that of WRAP and DEFRA, albeit having to give way on occasion as the number of original bids was down on expectation and many authorities were asking for weekly food waste collections as an enhancement rather than a specific return from AWC to weekly as the Secretary of State would have wanted.