P18 Installation News & EIC Update:Layout 1 23/11/2021 10:43 Page 18 IndustryNews Lighting Industry starts progress towards a Circular Economy
The series of Recolight Circular Economywebinars has been attended by over 1,000 individuals over the last two years, with attendees from right across the industry. Participants have shown a great deal of enthusiasm and many practical issues and suggestions have been raised.
towards ‘what is actually happening’. There is clearly still a lot to do – but it is starting to happen. That gives me hope that we will increasingly play our part in tackling the climate crisis.”
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With over 40 experts from across the lighting industry joining the webinar panels, many recurring themes were discussed:
l Resource depletion will begin to drive up the cost of raw materials, leading to more use of recycled materials.
l Recycling is not always the best solution.
l Several companies, including Recolight, have introduced new services to facilitate the reuse and repair of fittings. Remanufacturers have indicated they will provide warranties and certification of reused product.
l Maintenance and manufacturing companies have an emerging opportunity to offer to remanufacture or reconditioning services.
l Specifiers have a crucial role to play in educating end users about the importance of using products which embody Circular Economy principles.
l BS8887 (the new draft luminaire remanufacturing standard) and TM66 (method to assess compliance of luminaires with circular economy principles) will both help end users and specifiers make the right product choices.
EICUpdate Making sure retirementworks for you
Retirement is a huge life change. It can mean slowing down spending days in the garden, reading, golfing, cooking or it could mean looking aſter grandchildren, volunteering or learning a skill. It is important we understand what funds we have for when we retire and how we can make the best decisions for our retirement no matter if it is close or far away. The Electrical Industries Charity recently supported Jilly, an office manager for an electrical distributor.
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illy had worked in the sector for over 23 years and she contacted the Electrical Industries Charity for
information and advice regarding retirement. She had been thinking about retirement for more than five years but because of issues with her mortgage and a recent divorce she had been unable to retire until the age of 68. Jilly had recently become aware of an old employer’s pension and wanted to combine her private pension pot with her employer’s pension and her delayed state pension. Jilly had carried out some internet research into combining her pots and managing her pensions but felt overwhelmed with the advice online and was unsure of a lot of its legitimacy. The Charity welfare team signposted Jilly to The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) which
18 | electrical wholesaler December 2021
provides free, impartial guidance about pensions. TPAS covers all workplace, general, personal, stakeholder and state pension schemes and can handle general and specific enquiries. TPAS were able to advise Jilly on combining her pots and how to make them work best for her and her retirement plans. The Electrical Industries Charity also advised Jilly to contact the governmental pension service as she had deferred her state pension for more than one year. Alongside TPAS and the governmental
pension service Jilly’s Charity caseworker also directed her to the Money Advice Service. The Money Advice Service is a free service set up by the government to help manage finances. Here, Jilly could find an independent financial advisor to ensure her pension was working as hard as it could for her needs.
l The industry will benefit from guidelines that identify best practice. The LIA have since created a task force and published a technical statement: The Circular Economy interim guide.
l Reforms to the WEEE Regulations will incentivise re-use, and circular business models. Defra is considering setting separate targets for re-use.
Summarising the outcome of the 2021 webinar series, John Gorse,
technical solutions manager at Signify said: “Global commitments on sustainability and carbon for the future are essential but we have to wait for them to be realised. This series of Webinars has shown what lighting can actually do right now without restrictive costs or new mandatory legislation. Smart LED technology is low capex, easy to install, and when applied correctly is sustainable, circular and immediately cuts emissions that have a real impact on slowing and stopping temperature rise and climate change.”
ommenting on the outcome of the webinars, Nigel Harvey, CEO of Recolight said: “It has been really encouraging to see the discussions move beyond ‘what needs to be done’ and
With the help of a financial advisor Jilly is
looking forward to a financially comfortable future. Jilly has downsized and is now living on the coast, a forever dream of hers. The Electrical Industries Charity have now closed Jilly’s case and wish her the best of luck in her retirement.
If you need some guidance and advice please contact the welfare team on 0800 652 1618 or
support@electricalcharity.org
ewnews.co.uk
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