Queen of recycling: Professor Margaret Bates voted second most influential person in wastes management

The University of Northampton’s Margaret Bates, Professor of Sustainable Wastes Management and current President of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), has polled in second place in Resource Magazine’s annual Hot 100 of the most influential people in the industry.

Margaret has steadily been working her way up the Hot 100 in recent years, and her placing as this year’s runner-up focuses on her work to raise the profile of reuse and prevention.

Professor Bates explained: “I am really chuffed – I am in some highly esteemed company.  The Resource Hot 100 is special as it’s voted by the industry, and so shows that your peers appreciate the work you do. It is a great reflection of all the work of the CIWM and the waste team at the University of Northampton– demonstrating the clear link between education and professionalism.”

In her role as 2016/2017 President of the CIWM, Professor Bates recently launched a new ‘state of the nations’ report on Reuse in the UK and Ireland, which found that while the business case for reuse is broad – encompassing environmental, economic and social benefits – it is rarely articulated effectively. Margaret and her fellow authors proposed a number of recommendations, including the need for more co-ordination and collaborative working between key industry bodies, and knowledge sharing to maximise the impact of existing communications campaigns.

A Chartered Environmentalist with over 25 years of wastes management experience, Professor Bates has recently been building on her work in Africa, where she has kick-started the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) revolution. She also acts as an expert advisor for a range of local, national and international organisations, including the United Nations.

To find out more about our courses in Wastes Management, visit the University of Northampton’s course pages.