The North East Sustainable Resources Board (NESRB) has launched a new interactive web tool to help generate investment across the region.
The Geographical Information System (GIS) Resource Mapping Tool has been developed to allow users to examine the location of waste management facilities throughout the North East of England and also the tonnages of waste and resources disposed at these facilities.
RENEW, the organisation that facilitates and delivers commercial energy and environmental technology projects across the region worked with the NESRB to create the tool and believes it is the first of its kind to provide such detailed information in an interactive format.
Chris Hayward, Environment Technologies Manager, RENEW and an NESRB stakeholder, helped coordinate the project and says: "The GISResource Mapping Tool was developed to provide greater confidence to waste infrastructure companies interested in investing in the region and to improve the accessibility and usefulness of available waste management information."
"We were very pleased to work with the Environment Agency, DEFRA and Arup to bring all this information together in a simple to use format. By making this information accessible to all organisations with an interest in waste management, it will provide better understanding of the capacity and type of resource management facilities, spatial distribution of facilities and more certainty over the composition and location of waste generation in the North East."
The GIS tool uses data collected from publicly available sources such as the Environment Agency¹s Waste Interrogator (2009), DEFRA's Waste Data Flow, the Regional Spatial Strategy, in a variety of formats including charts, diagrams and data tables. This data was then manipulated (with the Environment Agency's cooperation and licensed approval) to render it suitable for import into a Geographical Information System (GIS).
One key feature of the tool is that it provides more detailed data relating to Commercial and Industrial Waste than has previously been available. Its accuracy will be improved further by DEFRA's national C&I waste survey (2010), and the North East Commercial & Industrial Waste survey also commissioned by the Board, which will be published in March 2011.
John Barton, Project Director, RENEW adds: "Through our work at RENEW we are ensuring the region is at the forefront of the UK¹s low carbon and sustainable energy drive and that it is making a significantcontribution to the economy bringing investment, jobs and growth to North East England. This new resource mapping tool will help bolster that by showing what opportunities are available for investors and helping current services develop and grow to meet the needs of the region."
Working with businesses, communities, investors, regulators and technology suppliers RENEW helps low carbon energy and environmental technology projects make the transition from development to the marketplace. Additionally, it provides strategic support to a diverse range of businesses looking to maximise the economic opportunities and carbon reductions from the application of these projects.