Our first Quick Fire Talks event on Materials and Circularity was held at The Remakery near Loughborough Junction on Wednesday, February 26. Six speakers from various recycling and circular economy projects and companies presented their concepts, findings, and lessons learned.
Our first Quick Fire Talks featured short presentations from Lambeth-based waste, reuse, and recycling companies and organisations. Participants heard about ongoing projects and experiences from peers in the sectors and then had the opportunity to network, build relationships and create awareness of local initiatives.
Laura Stevenson, Associate Chief Pharmacist at King’s College Hospital, presented on the Inhaler Recycling scheme. The project supports collection points at pharmacies across South London, then coordinates with the waste collectors of the pharmacies to collect the used inhalers from a central point and recycle all parts of the inhaler in one place, keeping additional lorries and vans off the roads.
Lieve Vanrusselt, Director and Head of Business Development at Matoha. Lieve presented on Matoha’s textiles and fibre identification technology, designed to assist with clothing material identification and textile sorting for recycling. Working with partners to develop a sorting bench, with inbuilt sensors for a more comprehensive identification process.
Rachel Singer, Circular Economy Advisor at ReLondon spoke about the programme’s flow analysis of textile materials in London, which has allowed them to identify areas for action and development for the upcoming London Textiles Action Plan.
Olga Osuch, Co-founder of Repair Café Lambeth CIC spoke about the creation of the local repair café. Their monthly meetups welcome over 150 local residents, and their supporting group of volunteers fix 91% of products/appliances brought by residents.
Javier Rojo, Director of Quantum Waste in Lewisham, spoke about their waste management business, which provides waste collection, sorting, and delivery of recovered materials. They work with local entrepreneurs who will use those materials for their products. They provided an in-depth look at their bio-fuel pilot scheme, where many lessons were learnt and opportunities identified.
Cormac Stokes, Head of Waste and Cleansing at Lambeth Council, provided an overview of the new Simple Recycling policy from the national government and how the council will work with the Environment Agency to support and implement it.
