Insights

29 July 2021

In a blog for Plastic Free July, our Senior Consultant Hanna Plant asks if trust-based reusable schemes are the answer to reducing our plastic footprint and the amount of single-use plastic that ends up in our environment and oceans.

13 July 2021

In June 2021, Resource Futures happily announced that Bristol had been awarded the status of Gold Sustainable Food City by the UK partnership programme, Sustainable Food Places. On the back of this excellent news, Hanna reflects on our other work around food waste, why it’s important, and what we still hope to achieve from our work in this area.

2 June 2021

With the three Defra consultations on extended producer responsibility (EPR), deposit return scheme (DRS) and collections consistency now released, local authorities have increasing clarity on the likely impacts of the Environment Bill on their future waste and recycling services. There’s never been a better time to review your Council’s waste strategy, but where do you start?

6 May 2021

Following the May 2021 UK local elections, is the green light for the collections consistency consultation imminent? Our Senior Consultant Abigail Mason sums up some of the key questions local authorities are hoping to have answered in the consultation.

25 March 2021

Despite the challenges of 2020, the Community RePaint Network adapted to new ways of working in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and even welcomed four new schemes. Find out how schemes were able to continue operating and distributing reusable paint to their communities.

23 March 2021

With fieldwork put on hold in 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown, our evidence team lead and appointed Health and Safety Advisor, Peter Wills, applied his skills and knowledge to help staff work safely from home and to get client projects safely up and running.

12 March 2021

With the second DRS consultation imminent, our Principal Consultant Will French revisits the first round: how it was received by local authorities, key developments since then, and what we can expect next.

4 March 2021

To celebrate B Corp Month, Resource Futures Consultant Katie Powell shares her experience of working for a business that prioritises people and planet.

23 December 2020

In a challenging year for so many, the environment and sustainability may not be at the heart of our choices, but it is possible. Our Junior Consultant Olivia Sweeney shares her tips for a sustainable Christmas and a green New Year.

2 December 2020

Listening to Kate Raworth use familiar language to explain the concept of Doughnut Economics, Resource Futures Senior Consultant, Kate Chambers realised the importance of words in opening the circular economy conversation to novices and experts alike.

18 November 2020

The new ban on some single use items on 1 October 2020, following Scotland’s ban in 2019, signifies the growing commitment across the UK to address single use plastics. Now, in the midst of a global pandemic, we are faced with a fresh onslaught of single use plastics being used to tackle the spread of the virus. Senior Consultant Hanna Plant looks at where that leaves reusables, and what the future may hold.

13 November 2020

The most common thing I’m asked for when presenting is examples of successful circular economy models to help prove the business case. This request suggests people remain to be convinced. Similarly, its regularly suggested that circularity in business is a ‘leap of faith’ or ‘high risk’ and that consumer demand is not yet there to …

Continue reading “Circularity hidden in plain sight”

2 October 2020

Pete Wills, Senior Consultant at Resource Futures, has been looking at the emerging opportunities made available by new technology to help identify post-production and post-consumer plastics in the field, and in particular plastic film. He considers the challenges for the waste sector and how this advanced technology will improve the identification of plastic types and thus aid their sorting, disposal and routes to recycling.

30 September 2020

David Lerpiniere, Head of Global Resources and Waste Policy at Resource Futures, says we must redouble efforts to create a global circular economy, not only for the health of our global citizens, but of our planet and our future.

24 August 2020

Consultant Katie Powell’s new found love of sewing during lockdown has taken her on a sustainability journey looking at how we can minimise the environmental impact of the clothes we buy.

5 August 2020

Jenny Robinson, Senior Consultant at Resource Futures, has been talking to her many contacts within local authorities about how they have been responding to new ways of working in response to Covid-19 safety measures – both for their staff and the public – at HWRCs. What can local authorities learn from each other and which of these new ways of working will become the norm in future?

22 June 2020

Fiona Jarvis considers how new patterns in food waste behaviour are beginning to emerge under lockdown, suggesting the way in which we value food has changed. Can the current Covid-19 crisis help to ignite a long-awaited food waste revolution?

10 June 2020

Consultant Abby Mason considers how the impact of Covid-19 could shape recycling in the UK and what it will mean for materials markets in the future.

21 May 2020

With a plethora of guidance available to help local authorities re-open their Household Waste Recycling Centres, Senior Consultant Laura Snoulton identifies the key communications areas to help councils ensure a smooth transition when re-opening.

11 May 2020

These extraordinary times are giving us an opportunity to reflect on some important issues, and how we need to place our environment at the centre of building a better future together. Here, Senior Consultant, George Cole, looks at how ocean plastics will drive part of the change that is needed.

1 May 2020

Consultant Sally Scholefield considers how shortages of disposable nappies in the shops during the Covid-19 crisis have contributed to a surge in parents making the switch to reusables.

24 April 2020

Local authorities and their contractors have risen to the challenge of managing waste in these difficult times and are doing a great job of maintaining services.

20 April 2020

Matt Polaine, Principal Consultant in Circular Economy, says we must look past the excess of information competing for our individual and collective attention to visualise new ways of solving global problems – and take inspiration from visionaries of the past.

3 April 2020

Reflections on news way of working at Resource Futures under the UK coronavirus lockdown, increased connectivity and flattening the curve

18 February 2020

The climate emergency might be just the catalyst the waste industry needs says Will French, Principal Consultant at Resource Futures. It is time to embrace the drive for measuring the carbon footprint of waste and the advances that may bring. There is a new line cropping up in local authority waste collection and treatment optimisation models. …

Continue reading “Through the carbon lens”

13 February 2020

To date, there has been a focus on the consumer’s role and responsibility in relation to marine litter. But our research has found that this pollution stems from decisions made further up the supply chain, and that the private sector has great potential to help tackle this problem.

28 January 2020

Bethan Jones, Head of Behaviour Change at Resource Futures says there’s a “gaping hole” in the Resources and Waste Strategy debate. Particularly when it comes to deposit return schemes.

22 January 2020

While the climate emergency is omnipresent in day to day life, that ‘emergency’ does not seem to have incited the endlessly pragmatic, can-do people of the construction sector into action. The figures speak volumes. Construction and/or buildings account for a staggering: • 1/2 of all extracted materials • 1/2 of all energy consumption • 1/3 …

Continue reading “Counting carbon – tackling climate change in construction”

30 December 2019

“This is the fight of our lives” says Ovais Sarmand, Dep Exec Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. “Every single person needs to make this a priority in the way they operate in the world.” It’s clear that there are early signs that we are starting to wake up to the threat of climate …

Continue reading “Construction and the fight of our lives”

18 December 2019

Christmas is not known as the most sustainable of times, being more commonly associated with excess – in terms of food, waste and consumerism. So is a sustainable Christmas actually possible? We’ve been making small changes at home over the past few years and this year it definitely feels like there’s been a positive shift …

Continue reading “Is a sustainable Christmas possible?!”