THE DIRECTOR of a Reading company was among those giving key evidence to the government as it seeks to address electronic waste in the UK.
Sam Mountain, director at Intelligent Waste Management Ltd, or iWaste, was invited as a key witness to address the parliamentary committee chaired by Philip Dunne MP.
The committee is gathering evidence as it assesses the main challenges facing lawmakers in dealing with electronic waste, the first since 2020.
Mr Mountain, who founded iWaste in 2013, was one of the key witnesses helping the committee understand whether UK electrical waste targets were achievable and what issues were creating barriers to dealing with it.
It also examined how fraud was affecting national waste management, as well as what action could be taken to avoid it, as electronic waste is often illegally exported to developing countries.
The original committee published its first report in November 2020, followed by a government response in February 2021, but in March this year the chair, Philip Dunne, said that many of the original committee’s recommendations were yet to be seen.
Its members include Caroline Lucas, of the Green Party; former Conservative transport secretary Chris Grayling; and Barry Gardiner, of the Labour Party.
The committee also heard contributions from Chris Candler, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) lead at the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers, as well as the chair of the Joint Trade Association, Andrew Mullen, and Katy Medlock, UK general manager of Back market.
Mr Mountain said it was a “privilege” to be part of the committee’s work, which he hoped would help to address the “limited” recent consultations on waste.
He also agreed with committee lead Philip Dunne’s view that the government had not yet “fully-grasped” the scale of the problems it faced with electronic waste.
Mr Dunne said ahead of the committee reconvening: “As a Select Committee, we are encouraged when the Government looks carefully at the evidence we have collected and accepts our recommendations.
“However, four years on, we are yet to see many of these initiatives make it into policy or be reflected in its current consultation on e-waste.
“I look forward to receiving the Environment Secretary’s response to see how EAC’s recommendations can help mould this critically important piece of Government policy.”
More information about the parliamentary select committee, including previous findings, is available via: committees.parliament.uk
