Speakers - BPF Sustainability Seminar

Stuart Hayward-Higham
Suez Environmental

Stuart Hayward-Higham is currently responsible for non-bidding emerging development activities in SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, delivering tools, techniques and information to meet customers’ business imperatives. This includes delivering new solutions or making successful niche activities mainstream through to market intelligence, market modelling and forecasting. In addition to his SUEZ duties Stuart is a director for Recoup (plastics recycling charity), a director of Terracycle UK and a member of the Defra Advisory Committee on Packaging. Further he has provided expert advice to the EU on relevant elements of the circular economy and acted as a H2020 expert assessor. He is chair of the Environmental Services Association (ESA) Bioresources committee and member of the ESA renewable energy committee, the Renewable Energy Association (REA) Organic recycling steering group and gasification and Pyrolysis committee. Stuart also regularly guest lectures at a number of UK universities.

Main activity themes include harnessing waste as a resource, energy and bio-fuels manufacture, sorting, extraction and value enhancement for waste mix resources and the increasing introduction of circular economy based products and solutions. 

Jason Leadbitter
Inovyn Chlorvinyls

Jason has approximately 30 years’ experience working within the PVC industry, his current role is Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager with INOVYN. He has an active European role in a number of Trade Associations especially on environmental and circular economy issues.  He is the current Chairman of the Controlled-Loop Recycling Committee of VinylPlus – the European PVC industry’s voluntary commitment and has recently been appointed Chair of the BPF’s Sustainability Committee. 

He received an Honours Degree in Materials Science and a PhD in Polymer Chemistry (Bradford University) as well as an Advanced Diploma in Sustainability from the University of Cambridge.  He is an International Speaker and Honorary Lecturer at several European Universities and Business Schools and is passionate about the importance of teaching science in student education.   In 2013 he was awarded a gold medal from the BPF for services to the industry.  He is also a Chartered Environmentalist. 

Andy Whyle
Ricoh

Andy Whyle is the Environment & Sustainability Specialist for Ricoh UK Products Ltd, a manufacturer that is part of a global organisation where he has worked for over thirty years. He is also Chair of the Marches Business Environment Networks and a Sustainability West Midlands Green Leader.

A proven leading sustainability practitioner on a local, national and international basis, he is a subject matter expert on the circular economy and has a thorough understanding of strategic long term goals for sustainability. 

His approach delivers environmental innovation, leads stakeholder collaboration and develops business financial benefits.  Andy’s ethos is to encourage networking of environmental best practice, explaining that environmental impact reduction and business benefits are synonymous, and that sustainability is achievable through collaboration.