Speaking at the opening session of the Institution's annual exhibition and conference at Torbay this morning, the CIWM's new president, Mike Philpott, said there would also be a focus on scientific and technical areas of waste management.
Mr Philpott said the “dramatic” need to get new workers into the sector would be a priority in his 12-month term as president. He also said the industry needed to do more to train existing workers, saying: “We need better use of our most precious resource – our staff.”
“As an industry I don’t think we are very good at managing our people,” he said, “as a consequence many people have been driven out of the industry. We have to do something – real professionals and future leaders don’t grow on trees.”
Knowledge
Mr Philpott said skills training would separate legitimate operators from the “cowboys” in the industry. Other priorities for the new CIWM president this year include spreading UK knowledge of waste management to developing countries – working with the International Solid Waste Association – and helping waste producers to improve their awareness of waste issues.
The opening session of the CIWM exhibition and conference saw for the first time an interactive debate in which an audience of about 250 voted on whether the UK is ready to reach European waste targets in 2010.
An overwhelming majority of CIWM delegates – almost 80% – said the UK is not ready to meet the targets set out in the EU Landfill Directive. The sector skills shortage was one of the five most significant barriers identified by the survey to reaching landfill diversion targets, along with planning, public perception, legislation and investment difficulties.
Aging
Speaking in the debate, the chief executive of training organisation Energy Utility Skills Ltd, Tim Balcon, said: “As a sector there is an aging work force in waste management, and there seem to be few entries into the sector.”
Mr Balcon said the sector is not taking advantage of the 12 billion the government is making available for industries to train workers – and the waste sector is now losing out in the competition for workers to other sectors like gas, water, highways and rail.
He said: “These other sectors are putting in massive investments – but they are all fishing for the same work force pool as waste management.”
Mr Balcon also highlighted the “glaring” underinvestment in staff health and safety in the waste management industry, and pointed out that if the UK invested an extra 0.5% in its work force a 4% increase in productivity is achieved.
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