The future of the National Household Hazardous Waste Forum has been assured albeit in a limited capacity – after it was taken over yesterday (March 17) for a nominal sum by consultancy Resource Futures.
In a statement, Resource Futures said it did not have any plans to organise any seminars for the Forum in the immediate future, and there are no plans to renew members subscriptions to the Forum when they all expire on March 31 2011.
Instead, the Forum, which has traditionally offered workshops and guidance on household hazardous waste to a wide range of industry stakeholders, will make the members only section of its website free to join and use.
And, Resource Futures has said that it plans to maintain communication with other interested organisations such as the Resource Recovery Forum, Chartered Institution of Wastes Management and Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee on household hazardous wastes.
Falling membership
The future of the National Household Hazardous Waste Forum (NHHWF) was cast into doubt last month, when it issued a notice to all members revealing that concerns over falling membership due were impacting on its ability to operate sustainably (see letsrecycle.com).
This prompted the group to hold an extraordinary general meeting in London last week (March 10) to consider the various options available to the group.
Having discounted the option of a seminar-only Forum or maintaining the status quo, the NWHHF executive committee decided to opt for trying to transfer or amalgamate with another organisation or to manage the Forum as an online-only entity.
And, in a statement issued yesterday, the Forum said the solution that emerged as result of this was for Resource Futures which has been heavily involved in managing the Forum to take ownership of the NHHWF.
This, it said, involved it purchasing the company from the Directors of the NHHWF, or other arrangements with equivalent effect, [for a nominal sum] while securing certain safeguards for future activity on HHW.
Commenting on the situation, the chair of the NHHWF, Roy Watkinson, told letsrecycle.com: I am very grateful that Resource Futures has in effect offered us a lifeline and if anyone was going to keep this afloat, it would be them.
Their custodianship will preserve opportunities for the future and help make information available. In particular, I would like to thank Jane Stephenson for her support.
Resource Futures
Resource Futures chief executive, Jane Stephenson, said that the consultancys involvement with the Forum illustrated its ambitions to be at the forefront of this area of waste management.
The company recognises that hazardous household waste is still a live issue, particularly as more materials are being diverted from landfill into material recovery systems, and therefore the hazardous nature of the remaining residual waste stream becomes more concentrated, she said.
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