Our first City Environmental Debate on ‘Accelerating the Transition to a Circular Economy’ was a great success with an almost full house at Arup’s central London offices despite the pouring rain. we had representatives from many businesses and organisations, City of London Livery Companies including quite a few masters, as well as being joined by Alderman Alison Gowman.  The topic for debate was the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, which seeks to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. The debate focused primarily on the material resources sector as humankind is currently consuming them in an unsustainable manner.
The debate was very ably chaired by Dr Adam Read MBE, Chief External Affairs and Sustainability Officer SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, and Past President of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), and organised in partnership with CIWM.
The Speakers included:
- Dr Margaret Bates                    Head of Defra’s EPR scheme
- Stuart Hayward-Higham       Chief Technical Officer SUEZ
- Liam Hogg                                Head of Resources and Waste NHS
- Wayne Hubbard                      CEO of ReLondon
- Russell Macdonald                  Chief Technologist Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Prof Mark Miodownik            Prof of Materials & Society UCL
- Rainer Zimmann                      UKIMEA Leader Resources and Waste Arup
As a sign of the interest in and enthusiasm for the debate the questions kept coming well into drinking time and we were eventually encouraged to leave by the security staff.
We are very grateful to Suez, Arup and CIWM for their support for the event. Congratulations to Allan Barton and the SERE team for their organisation.
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