Bespoke free seminars for RWM visitors

Visitors to this year's Recycling and Waste Management exhibition can attend expert-led seminars in three separate theatres dedicated to pertinent local authority, business and climate change issues.

The free RWM seminar programmes have been carefully themed so that exhibition visitors can easily select subjects relevant to their activities and create their own unique educational programme.

The Local Authority Theatre, endorsed by the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) tackles the hot topic of food waste and composting on Tuesday (16 September), featuring a presentation from Paul Deakin on East Devon's practical experience in implementing food waste collections and a discussion on food waste disposal units from Jeremy Howell-Thomas of Worcestershire County Council.

Wednesday (17 September) will see a day devoted to examples of excellence including Cork County Council's pay by weight experience and Falkirk Council's efforts to achieve zero waste.

As part of the adding value theme, day three (18 September) in the Local Authority Theatre features a session on training when Melvyn Lilley, business and training manager at LARAC will outline the UK's first recycling qualification, recently established by Middlesex University and Wastepack.

The Business Theatre will dedicate Tuesday to exploring the issues faced by construction sector and recycling businesses, with John Twitchen, managing director of Sauce Consulting offering advice on Site Waste Management Plans and landfill diversion, while Will Goode, managing director of Construction Resale will explain how to gain extra revenue from construction waste.

Senior staff from Grant Thornton will provide invaluable guidance to any visitors looking to sell their recycling business and Tony Lesowiec of the Environmental Technologies, UK Health and Environment Research Institute will outline the practical support available to construction firms to help them succeed in securing EU funding for developing new products and services in recycling and waste management.

On day two, the Business Theatre will turn to retailing, manufacturing and logistics.

Darren Johnson, chair of the London Assembly's Environment Committee will share the capital's experience of dealing with plastic bags and business waste and Simon Hill, commercial manager for recycling at Wincanton will review the impact of first year of the Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment Directive.

Tony Lesowiec will then return to take a look at how EU funding can work for manufacturers aiming to improve their recycling and waste management performance.

Increasingly, the waste and recycling spotlight has turned on packaging and materials, reflected in Thursday's programme which will feature two speakers from BandQ who will outline the challenges the retailer faces when organising recycling of packaging at its stores.

The Environment Agency will explain how the Waste Protocols can help businesses to avoid unnecessary red tape and save money and the Watch Tower Society will present a case study of a printworks.

Following its popularity at RWM 07, the Talking Climate Change zone will make a welcome return, featuring practical information on energy and engineering for climate change, measuring carbon emissions and real examples of how climate change can be addressed through recycling and waste management - including anaerobic digestion.

On the opening day of RWM, Simon Drury, business partnerships manager at Envirowise, will explain how profits, risks, opportunities and sustainability should all be considered as part of any corporate environmental strategy.

ERM's presentation about WRATE, a modelling tool developed for the Environment Agency, is a must-attend for waste and recycling managers looking to compare the environmental impacts of different waste management scenarios.

On day two Green Party London Assembly Member, Darren Johnson, will set out a 10-point plan for reducing London's carbon emissions from housing, energy supply and transport, and Jo Confino, head of sustainable development at Guardian News and Media (GNM) will give delegates an insight into the GNM's current thinking on climate change.

The final day's sessions include a presentation from Resource Futures on household water efficiency and a critique of recent carbon accounting reports relating to local authority recycling systems.

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