On Friday 1st August the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) held the first of a series of workshops in relation to its recent report on Sustainable Resource Management (SRM). The event, held at the ORT in London, was attended by approximately 40 IEMA professionals with an interest in Sustainable Resource Management including from British Airways, Skanska and National Grid.
During the seminar, key messages were outlined from the IEMA’s latest ‘From Waste To Resources’ report, providing an opportunity for IEMA members to discuss SRM actions with its author, Josh Fothergill, acting Head of Professional Standards and Policy & Practice Lead. The recent report, which is designed to be a practical tool for business, included case studies from Rolls-Royce, Philips, Unilever, Kingfisher and Ricoh.
In his introduction, Fothergill explained how SRM and the so-called ‘circular economy’ is the viable, logical – and business-critical – solution in a world where raw materials will be increasingly scarce. He pointed out that today, only 19% of the UK is ‘circular’.
Andy Whyle, Environment Officer for Ricoh UK, demonstrated how Ricoh integrates SRM into the very DNA of the organization. Next Daan Elffers, Founder and CEO of EMG and also one of the peer reviewers of the IEMA report, discussed specific business opportunities from circular economy models. Finally Mike Cross, Principal Sustainable Development Manager with Willmott Dixon, spoke about its activities in relation to CSR.
In addition the seminar outlined numerous tools and resources that IEMA has developed for members, where they can be accessed, and how they can be used as a competetive advantage, including a demonstration of the RAMP tool, which enables to rapidly review the maturity of an organization’s progress towards embedding sustainable resource management.
Further workshops will be held in London, Cardiff and Birmingham, with additional seminars in the north of England and in Scotland later in 2014.
For more information about the report on resource management, please see: https://www.emg-csr.com/blog/report-on-resource-management-iema/
Published on: Aug 4, 2014