Sustainable Solutions December 2008

WASTE
Economic recovery versus
environmental improvement
With the current focus on our fiscal challenges, what is happening to the environment? In
particular what effect is it having on waste electronic and electrical equipment? Derek Morgan
uses fictional characters to examine the situation through three sets of different eyes.
I
N THESE difﬁ cult times, I am goals to help stimulate the economy and net of specialisation. I have end-to-end
reminded of a keynote presentation reduce carbon emissions. The verdict: responsibility and I don’t get to say 'it’s not
given by Sir Christopher Bland (then “Essentially, the focus has been on ﬁ scal my job'.
chairman at BT) at the Environment - not environmental - sustainability issues. The downturn is really hurting our money
Agency’s conference three years ago. He Although this is understandable, it’s a case ﬂ ow. We are not alone in having to lay off
stated that the ﬁ rst priority was to ensure of looking at short-term important issues, swathes of accounts payable staff, so that
companies had a sustainable business model not long-term important issues,” said KPMG should give you an indication of what lies
and that the proﬁ ts arising fundamentally partner Frank Sangster while Greenpeace ahead. Personally I’m worried, the collapse
supported the drive to sustainable practices. demonstrated outside the Bank of England. of share prices has just destroyed my nest
The logic was compelling and the However, in the blizzard of ﬁ nancial egg and added another decade until my
initiatives that BT could afford left woe, there are important changes in the retirement. We recycle onsite and avoid
the audience in hushed reverence. Sir environmental dialogue that seem to have needless logistics. We generate our own
Christopher saw the writing on the wall, gone missing off the coast of Somalia. electricity and can produce more.
he recognised the dependence of BT on To sort through some of the arguments From an environmental perspective I
electricity (fourth highest consumer in the I’ve invited three ‘characters’ to help can’t understand why the electricity prices
UK) and the impact of rising energy costs communicate some of the perspectives in the continue to escalate so dramatically when
on BT’s business model. This gave a sense public domain. These are: SoulPatch Wayne the fundamentals are going in the opposite
of urgency to their environmental agenda (the tech exec), Sooty (the climate/carbon direction and there are millions of potential
and bottom-line measures against which to buff), and GadgetBoy Jorge (the cynical producers dying to get involved.
validate improvements. geek). I understand why we can’t resell our
Of course, solving an equation with Are they all right in their views, can they excess electricity back to the grid or why
a single, or even a dominant variable, is all be right at the same time, or are they all planning permissions limit our potential
relatively easy. wrong? contribution. We do produce excess, but
Now, three years on, there are multiple electricity is not something that you can
factors hurting the typical business model and
SOULPATCH WAYNE
easily store and forward for later use, and
previously ‘safe’ businesses are going to the “From my perspective I like to think I’m without government intervention I can’t take
wall in their droves. a technologist. I am passionate about the excess production from some of our sites and
So what is happening to the environment? design and introduction of new products move it where it is required.
According to Messrs Darling and Brown, and it is crucial to my effectiveness that I There is a wide range of regulations
the Green Agenda is alive and well. In understand the utility and value of those that prevent and hinder our environmental
the pre-budget report the UK government products across their lifespan (lifecycle with initiatives rather than support them, and then
announced a range of environmental effective recycling). I don’t enjoy the safety there are those regulations that promise the
42 SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS December/January 2009
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56 | Page 57 | Page 58 | Page 59 | Page 60