Stuart Ferguson - Head of Investment LWARB Inspire Aspire Talk 14 Feb 2019

Stuart Ferguson, Head of Investment from the government body LWARB (The London Waste and Recycling board) came in to run a talk and Q&A session with our year 12 and 13 Business Btec/A Level and A Level Economics students.

Stuart focused mainly on the issue of sustainability in businesses. Students were afforded an in-depth understanding of the benefits of the ' circular economy' and the challenges facing small businesses to become more environmentally responsible whilst maintaining their profit margins (and how this compared to their non UK counterparts).

Stuart also talked about the impact of 'Brexit' and the challenges currently facing small businesses in the UK compared to other European countries.

Students and members of the Business and Economics Department raised insightful questions about how to offer incentives to  businesses to become more environmentally responsible (especially the current big waste culprits of the supermarkets and the fashion industry). This was also linked to a discussion of the difficulties in, and the consequences of enforcing cultural changes (and economic penalties) on businesses who have long established records of having huge carbon footprints ( such as contributing towards the ‘plastic ocean’ epidemic).

On the plus side, It was great to know that many of us - staff and students alike were already contributing towards an improvement in long term sustainability simply by utilising music platforms like ‘spotify’ and by recycling our old clothes.

Stuart encouraged all of us to move away from plastic bottles and try OOho – edible water containers made from seaweed!