In today’s climate, the environment continues to feature heavily in the agenda of businesses and societies all over the world. And, with people becoming increasingly interested in measures to improve their sustainability, we’re inviting colleagues, friends of the business, and our peers in the wider industry to take part in our quickfire environmental Q&A.

Next up, it’s Huw Crampton, sales manager at Tidy Planet Ltd.

 

1. Where do you fit into the environmental sector? Tell us a little bit about your role at Tidy Planet…

I am the sales manager at Tidy Planet — an organic waste and energy-from-waste solutions firm. I have worked in the environmental sector since 2005 — with 90% of my time having been spent focused on commercial-scale composting in some way or other. Of that proportion, 80% of that has been dedicated to composting food waste.

 

2. Complete the sentence – the UK is great at recycling…

…but there is certainly plenty of room for improvement — and technology is gradually helping us to plug this gap.

 

3. Which sector do you think could achieve significant environmental progress this year?

Farming, I hope.

 

4. What do you wish you’d known about the environment, as a child?

Wow, just one thing? I’ll go for knowing that avocado stones are worth a fortune to the right person.

 

5. What’s the single biggest threat to the environment, in your opinion?

The loss of soil health. There are roughly 50 more seasons of farming at our disposal before the bulk of growing land is damaged beyond repair, and composting plays a vital role in improving the structure and quality of our soils.

 

6. Share one tip to help people be ‘greener’, at work or at home:

If there’s just one thing you can do, make sure you separate soiled waste from everything else. Technology can easily distinguish plastics and paper, but the same cannot be said for uncontaminated wet recyclables, yet!

 

7. Tell us an environmental statistic that you think people need to know:

A turkey carcass from a carvery deck weighs 4.7kg, and you can only fit six of them in a 120-litre wheeled bin. If you bought a turkey crown instead, the bin would be empty and would therefore never need to be collected!

 

8. What’s the best thing you’ve ever reused/upcycled?

I’m currently sitting at the desk in my home office, which is made from an old wooden kitchen worktop.

 

9. If you were prime minister for the day, what’s the one thing you’d do to improve the UK’s sustainability agenda?

I’d commence the rapid implementation of 20 or 30 small modular reactors (SMRs), and I’d have hydrogen production plants (PEMs) built right next door to each of them. One of the challenges in rural areas is access to energy infrastructure. In locations that lack sufficient grid capacity, SMRs can be introduced to provide a low-carbon power alternative for both industry and the population.

 

10. Complete the sentence – in 100 years’ time, I hope…

…that fusion reaction has been proven viable and there is unlimited energy for all.