RWM 2015, the international event for resource & waste management innovation, announced the winner in its search to find the industry’s ‘Rising Stars’ of resource management during the show.
The overall winner of the first ever Rising Stars competition is bio-bean Ltd CEO, Arthur Kay. Launched in 2013, bio-bean Ltd is an award-winning green energy company that has industrialised the process of recycling waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuels, biomass pellets for heating buildings and biodiesel for powering transport systems.
In just two years, Arthur Kay has grown bio-bean to a team of twenty, raised several million in finance and built the world's first waste coffee recycling factory with the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes of waste coffee grounds each year. By 2020, bio-bean plan to be saving over 500,000 tonnes carbon emissions each year and powering thousands of homes and vehicles.
Arthur Kay will receive a valuable CIWM training package and funding towards the bio-bean Ltd initiative worth over £2000.
The competition judges were:
• Barry Dennis, Chair of RWM
• Steve Lee, CEO of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
• Paul Vanston, Kent Resource Partnership.
Barry Dennis, Chair of RWM, said: “All the entries to RWM’s first ever Rising Stars competition were of an exceptionally high standard. Arthur Kay stood out for the significant impact bio-bean Ltd has had in such a short time, as well as its potential for growth. Arthur sees the challenges of urbanisation as opportunities, and is inspiring others to view waste as a resource.”
The runners-up of the Rising Stars Competition are Peter Goodwin of Simply Cups and Kristina Jackson of ISS Facility Services.
Peter Goodwin founded 'Simply Cups', a partnership between Closed Loop Environmental Solutions and Simply Waste Solutions. The scheme now provides many of the UK's leading paper-cup manufacturers, organisations operating in the supply chain as well as beverage and hospitality outlets with a cost-efficient, collection and recycling service. Many big name brands and stakeholders from across the supply chain have committed themselves to the scheme, including John Lewis Partnership, Costa Coffee, WRAP and Keep Britain Tidy.
Launched in August 2014, Simply Cups has already collected and recycled more than a million cups and is well on course to achieve its target of six million cups per annum.
In June of this year, the scheme added five additional waste materials to its service: beverage cartons, washroom towels, food service PET packaging, cup lids and coffee grounds, thereby providing the hospitality industry with a complete recycling service for its disposables.
Steve Lee, CEO of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, said: “Disposable items in the hospitality industry have historically been a problem waste stream. Peter Goodwin has taken that challenge and turned it on its head, creating not only a successful business initiative, but a whole movement through the supply chain towards more sustainable consumption patterns. Peter thoroughly deserves to be recognised as one of the resource management industry’s Rising Stars!”
Runner-up Kristina Jackson joined ISS Facility Services in 2013 and began the challenging task of mobilising the waste management aspect of ISS' FM contract at London Heathrow's Terminal 2. She implemented a number of highly innovative systems to manage the terminal's complex waste portfolio, and delivered a world class recycling rate of 72% within just five months. Kristina has now moved to ISS’ Royal Bank of Scotland contract and is managing resources across 2,156 sites.
Competition judge Paul Vanston, Kent Resources Partnership, said: “All of the finalists achieved great results including Katrina gaining very high recycling rates at Heathrow Airport, and Peter busting the myths on actually recycling paper cups. Arthur’s achievements in building bio-bean are remarkable. He deserves to be the 2015 winner.”