The event included representatives from across the waste sector:
- Aaron Wood, Biffa
- Craig Willshee, Willshee’s
- Edward Yendluri, LARAC
- Fred Stinchcombe, Suez
- Jonathan Davies, Finning UK & Ireland
- Richard Hudson, CIWM
- Tim Ballard, Finning UK & Ireland
- William Stone, FCC Environment
The discussion took place in Birmingham and was organised by letsrecycle.com.
The conversation spanned several crucial topics all connected to the wider question: “How do we contribute to a sustainable, efficient future – starting now?”
Making data available, coherent and actionable
The discussion highlighted the importance of data availability, both having access to it and ensuring that management has the time to process the data so that it can be disseminated to the wider staff.
Participants said that they had found that visualisation initiatives yielded significant savings and efficiency by helping to reveal behavioural and infrastructure challenges.
One participant pointed out that implementing a Business Intelligence suite resulted in significant savings.
It was added that site management also need to be educated on the visual signs of inefficiency or efficiency, such as the smell of fuel, which must then be linked to actual environmental and material costs to effectively utilise the data.
Behavioural change and incentives needed
The conversation had a significant focus on the challenges being faced when it comes to employee retention and recruitment, and that higher pay may not always be the solution.
Some of the attendees said they had seen significant successes when it came to implementing incentive schemes to reward high-performing employees and added that these should be extended to drivers and operators.
Everyone agreed that recruitment challenges are significant, necessitating efforts to improve job appeal and preparing for a future where some roles may be replaced by automation and AI.
Zero-emission transition challenges
Switching to zero-emission machinery faces major financial and infrastructural hurdles, including the high cost of equipment and technology which is still in its infancy in many cases.
Several of the attendees proposed that hydrogen is an appealing solution, but that the lack of adequate UK infrastructure and high production costs make it currently largely unviable.
This means that there needs to be a continued reliance on short-term behavioural changes for emission reduction.
Hear from the attendees below:
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