Alasdair Meldrum – Waste Matters

Our guest speaker this week was Alasdair Meldrum, a former Ayr Rotary member, managing director of Albion Environmental Ltd and a member of the Chartered Institute of Waste Management. He gave a very interesting talk covering many aspects of waste from how we use (or misuse) our wheely bins to the control (or lack of) of industrial waste.

Alasdair described the many challenges facing society in collecting and safely disposing of the ever-increasing volumes and changing nature of waste materials, domestic and industrial.

On the domestic side, many folk are lazy and/or ignorant of the need for segregating and recycling their waste. If wheely bins were used properly then tens of thousands of pounds could be saved annually in South Ayrshire alone

Despite the existence of waste management and anti-pollution laws (with associated large fines) dumping, fly-tipping and other illegal methods of dealing with industrial and commercial waste is a major problem which is not being properly addressed. Whilst we are good at writing policies and bringing forward legislation, we are very bad at enforcing these. We are also very poor at getting the public to understand and take proper responsibility for caring for our environment. Alasdair highlighted, as an example of this, the disregard for the environment by manufacturers, sellers and users of vapes. These contain hazardous components and should be disposed of accordingly. Over 90% of vape manufacturers and retailers in the UK are failing to meet environmental regulations.

Loudon McAndrew gave the vote of thanks.