The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) has today (21 October) inaugurated its new President, John Quinn.

Taking over from the 2013/14 President David Beadle, Quinn – a CIWM Fellow, General Council Member, and immediate Past Chair of the CIWM NI Centre Council – is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist and has held positions at Castlereagh Borough Council, Antrim Borough Council, and waste management group arc21.

He has also been involved with the local Institution of Civil Engineers, the Association of Municipal Engineers, and the Technical Advisers Group (TAG), and was a founding member, inaugural NI Secretary and first NI National Secretary of the Association of Direct Labour Organisations (ADLO, now known as APSE).

CIWM Chief Executive Steve Lee welcomed Quinn’s appointment, saying: “John will bring a wealth of experience, skills and personal strengths to the job, as well as energetic commitment. His focus on ensuring that CIWM supports the sector in leveraging its skills, experience and dynamism to make a real contribution to the circular economy goal is both timely and welcome.”

Circular economy focus

At the inauguration event at Stormont, Belfast today, the 2014/15 CIWM President outlined that during his presidency he will focus on the circular economy, emphasising the need for the sector and the institution to “grasp this concept with both hands”.

As such, Quinn unveiled this year’s presidential report, which was commissioned to explore what the circular economy means to and for the waste and resource management sector.

The report, written by Ray Georgeson, Director of Ray Georgeson Resources, and Dr Jane Beasley, Director of Beasley Associates, provides insight into the views of CIWM’s members and the wider industry across England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Some of the key recommendations for CIWM in the report include:

• developing a Circular Economy Action Group to engage stakeholders within and beyond the waste and resource management sector;
• embedding the circular economy into CIWM’s training and membership offering, as well as its internal structures, strategies and future planning;
• facilitating the dissemination of circular economy developments and practice; and
• supporting other circular economy initiatives, such as the RSA’s The Great Recovery.

‘Helping to address the gaps that need to be filled’

Quinn said: “I believe this is one of the most exciting and challenging trends that will shape the future of our industry in the medium to long term.

“In its broadest sense, the circular economy is about keeping resources at work, and our industry collects and manages a lot of the recovered material resources that are needed to make that circle happen.”

Adding that there are four ‘key’ areas that CIWM can make a contribution to (communication; knowledge; skills; and influence), he stated: “We should be helping to bring the different parts of industry together, championing and communicating to a range of audiences the role we play in collecting, sorting and reprocessing quality secondary materials that are essential to the success of the circular economy concept.

“We should be helping to address the gaps that need to be filled in – gaps in our knowledge and data, gaps in our networks and relationships, and gaps in our thinking and arguments... We should be exploring what skills and training need to be in place to ensure that our industry can respond to and benefit from the opportunities ahead and help its customers to do the same. And we should be influencing the agenda where possible and building on the strong messages in the European Commission’s recent communication that a circular economy approach is essential to underpin sustainable economic growth in the future.”

Quinn will be supported by Senior Vice President Professor Jim Baird and Junior Vice President Professor Margaret Bates.