New CIWM President calls on waste and resource managers to become guardians of raw materials 

The CIWM’s (Chartered Institution of wastes Management) new President, Tim Walker has called on the sector to accelerate its transition from waste managers to guardians of the raw materials which are so vital for the UK economy.

Following his inauguration in Belfast last night (20 June), Walker launched his Presidential Report entitled ‘Turning off the Tap: Why better design can increase resource resilience and reduce consumption’.

He explained: “Resource and waste managers see the results of overconsumption, disposable design and imperfect service models every day in the millions of tonnes of material they handle. One of the issues however is that we have become too good at managing this waste and in doing so we have taken our focus off what’s really important – stemming our wasteful behaviour.  

“Processed items made from multiple materials are not good for the health of the planet, especially at the scale we see today. It’s time to seriously address the role of design and development in the creation of ‘stuff’ and recognise how the resources and waste sector, which is at the nucleus of circularity, can support better decision making to effectively protect our precious resources.”

Recognising that CIWM is ideally placed to support this change, the report makes several recommendations designed to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy including:

• Recognising CIWM as the trusted professional body for circularity
• Supporting collaboration by facilitating cross-industry best practice
• Identifying opportunities for regulation to stem the flow of resources
• Challenging the sectors’ role in increasing consumption
• Calling out / providing feedback to brands / retailers on problematic items to support the reduction in single use items
• Working with other trade organisations to promote the benefits of circularity.

Walker is currently the Chief Executive of the arc21, a local authority partnership in Northern Ireland, having previously headed up waste management at Belfast City Council for two decades.