Glasgow meeting 'huge success'
17/10/2008
The RNUK members meeting held in Glasgow recently has been hailed 'a huge success' by attendees. There were some excellent presentations sparking debate that lasted long into the evening. Members also took the opportunity to catch up with each other as well as making new contacts.
The first day saw the Organics Special Interest Group make the short trip to visit Scottish Water’s in vessel composting facility at Deerdykes (the images at the side of this article are of the plant). The group was guided round the site by Waste Services Manager, Donald MacBrayne who has been involved there for 6 years. Donald explained the process from receipt of material to full maturation of the compost and fielded many questions from attendees.
Following the visit, presentations were provided by Tracey Brindley of Remade Scotland and Louise McGregor of WRAP. Tracey provided a review of the food waste collection trials being conducted in a number of locations in Scotland focusing in particular on the promotional campaign, yields and challenges faced. Louise then gave background and detail to WRAP’s food waste strategy and trials and research undertaken.
The second day was handed over to the full members’ meeting and had a Scottish theme in the morning with speakers from the Zero Waste Scotland partnership providing insights into their roles in the partnership and recent developments. Simon Stockwell of the Scottish Government gave the government’s perspective and Colin Murchison (Remade Scotland), Iain Gulland (WRAP’s Director for Scotland) and Nicki Souter (Campaign Manager, Waste Aware Scotland) completed the picture.
With the stark differences between the Scottish waste strategy and its English counterpart, attendees had many questions to put to the speakers. The development of the partnership was of particular interest and it was noted that such a rounded partnership has evolved through forming a joint business plan in the first instance before then drawing up organisational business plans.
The afternoon was given over to members and non-member attendees to provide updates on their own organisations. Some member organisations have recently gone through major changes and/or funding restructuring so were able to share their experiences from this. It was also interesting to hear from the non-members present about their experiences and products.
This meeting was certainly a successful event from the visit to Deerdykes through the evening social event in Glasgow city centre to the fine array of speakers. There was much open debate and discussion inside and outside the formal meeting and was a great advert for RNUK.
The presentations from the meeting are available to members only and can be accessed here.
