Interview
Promoting environmental sustainability
Chief Executive of Viridor, Colin Drummond, has seen dramatic changes in the environment sector over the past decade and a half. With worldwide demand for environmental solutions set to continue, opportunities abound for UK companies to profi t overseas and UKTI can help
Colin Drummond is chief executive of Viridor, a leading waste management, recycling and renewable energy company, and executive director of the Pennon Group, both positions that he has held since 1993. He has been chairman of UKTI’s Environmental Sector Advisory Group (ESAG), for over fi ve years. He also chairs UKTI’s new Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and a government advisory board called Living with Environmental Change. As chair of the Environmental Sustainability Knowledge
Transfer Network, Colin’s role involves promoting the development of environmental technologies and best practice between government, academia and businesses. This network of some 5,000 members is sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board and is designed to help maximise the UK’s long-term technological competitiveness in all areas relating to environmental sustainability. “UK’s academic excellence is a major competitive advantage (indeed as it states in our publication UK: a World Leader in Environmental Solutions, four of the world’s top ten universities are based in the UK) and we are particularly strong in environmental and climate change sciences,” says Colin. “Enhancing and exploiting this excellence is key to our long-term prosperity.” Colin has attended fi ve trade missions with UKTI to date.
A mission to China with the Prime Minister in 2008 proved particularly benefi cial for Viridor. “We were looking to
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