LARAC elects Andrew Bird as chair

Andrew Bird has been elected as the new chair of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) following the counting of votes today (January 10).

Mr Bird, who holds the position of LARACs policy support officer as well as recycling strategy and commissioning manager for Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council, succeeds long-standing chair Joy Blizzard who stepped down from the role earlier this month (January 3) (see letsrecycle.com story).

Alongside Mr Bird, two new vice-chairs were also elected. They are: Sally Talbot, team manager: waste and operations at Staffordshire county council, also a member of the LARAC policy team; and Durk Reyner, head of client environment services at Welwyn Hatfield borough council and long-time member of the LARAC executive.

The team will be joined in April this year by the new chief executive of LARAC Lee Marshall (see letsrecycle.com story). Mr Marshall served four years as chair of LARAC and will replace current executive officer Colin Kirkby who is retiring.

The Committee hopes the appointment of a new team at the head of LARAC will offer extra strength to its organisation and the representation it provides to its members.

Thrilled

Receiving the news of his appointment Mr Bird said: I am thrilled to have been appointed Chair of LARAC. We continue to live in challenging times, as seen in the last week by the controversy from DCLG’s so called ‘Bin Bible’. As Chair I will do my upmost to represent our members best interests at a national level, as well as giving advice where necessary.

He added: I would like to take this opportunity to thank the past Chair, Joy Blizzard who has worked tirelessly for LARAC over the last ten years, helping shape the organisation to be the success it is today, and also Mark Foxall as Vice-Chair for all his work and support especially around the need nationally to improve Health & Safety in our industry, an area I am passionate to support.