WRAP chief executive Dr Liz Goodwin, who steps down from the post on Thursday (30 June), has described her time at the organisation as the most ‘fulfilling’ 15 years of her life and has praised the “drive and commitment” of the charity’s staff in seeking to promote the resources and recycling agendas.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com ahead of her departure, Dr Goodwin said she was particularly proud of WRAP’s work on tackling food waste, work with retailers through the Courtauld Commitment, and the ‘risk taking approach’ that she claims has helped to grow the reprocessing sector in the UK.
Dr Liz Goodwin OBE leaves WRAP on June 30 2016
“I wanted to contribute to society,” Dr Goodwin explained – describing her decision to join WRAP in 2001 after several years working in the chemicals industry, for companies including ICI and Zeneca.
Having taken over the helm in 2007, Dr Goodwin is notably modest about her achievements, but says WRAP and the wider waste and recycling sector have changed significantly in those 15 years.
“We’ve changed a lot since we were set up. Initially we were set up just to look at the recycling markets and then the role evolved we took on waste minimisation, communications, behavioural change through to actually thinking about sustainable resources so it has changed a lot.”
‘Massively increased’
She adds: “When we first started we were trying to encourage people to recycle and recycling rates were down at 9 to 10%, but now we’ve massively moved; we talk about resources, we don’t really talk about waste. Recycling rates have massively increased and we are increasingly talking about circularity, the circular economy, resource efficiency and consumption which is the big elephant in the room. So we have actually shifted a long way in that time.”
On her proudest achievements she says that she believes the UK is “leading the world” in its work on food waste reduction, particularly through WRAP-led initiatives such as Courtauld and she highlighted the Recycle Now campaign, as another area that WRAP has helped to make a difference.
Food waste
“I think the thing I am most proud of is our work with food waste and that the UK understands the situation with food waste better than many other countries in the world,” she explained. “Recycle Now, too. I remember when we started it there was a discussion about ‘I hope this isn’t just going to be a two year fad that is replaced with the next campaign’, but it hasn’t been. It has been a noticeable campaign that has had real durability and you can’t go anywhere without seeing the recycling logo.
“That is fantastic because it is really embedded in people’s minds now, and the local authorities use it and it gives a consistent message.”
Looking back to her early days as chief executive, Dr Goodwin claims that her goal was to turn WRAP into ‘a more open’ organisation, providing a link between government, businesses and the public. “I wanted to change our approach because we were seen as a bit aloof and not very engaging and wanting to keep things closed in.
May 2013, (l-r) Liz Goodwin with the then Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson, Mark Boleat, City of London Policy & Resources Committee, and Lord de Mauley, recycling minister, Defra
“I wanted to be very open and get us a lot more working in partnership and collaboration and that then led us to really honing down the whole voluntary approach and that is a model we have proved can work so you don’t need to always look to legislation. Voluntary approaches can work and I think that is a fantastic thing to have achieved.”
Failures
Despite her backing, voluntary commitments do have their detractors, particularly in the plastics sector which has seen a number of failures. One example is the collapse of Closed Loop Recycling – a WRAP-backed recycling plant in East London – which suffered when the dairy industry stopped purchasing plastic bottles made from pellet produced at the plant. The incident led to questions as to whether manufacturers and retailers had backed away from producer pledges such as the Dairy Roadmap, in order to cut costs in light of the oil price collapse.
“I think it was damaging,” Dr Goodwin confesses, but she is critical of the Dairy Roadmap, which is led by the dairy industry, for its lack of binding commitments. “I personally don’t think it was a voluntary agreement as I would see it. Voluntary agreements have to have some consequences of not playing a part. We’ve always felt that if organisations involved in Courtauld do nothing or worse than nothing then we wouldn’t want them involved.
“You get free-riders that undermine the whole thing and those that are doing the right things resent it.”
Risks
She also admits she has no regrets over backing projects like Closed Loop, which had received financial support from WRAP, but closed its doors last summer. “We needed to take some risks,” she responds. “It’s very sad that Closed Loop shut down because we worked with them for a very long time. There were personal relationships as well as the investment that we had made. I think one of the things WRAP has had to do is take some risks and that means there are going to be some failures.
“Banks wouldn’t invest because they felt it was a risky business. The plastics sector itself yes it has had some knocks, but there are some extremely successful businesses out there and we shouldn’t put them all in the same basket.
“I’m going to take a couple of months’ holiday first of all. Then I’m going to look at getting back into things and I’ll still be working on the things that I care about – consumption, food waste and things like that.”
Liz Goodwin
WRAP
But overall, Dr Goodwin says her time at WRAP – an ‘extraordinary organisation’ – has been filled with progress and pride’.
“I’m very proud to have worked with all the staff at WRAP because they are all so committed. I’ve never worked at an organisation where there is so much commitment about what they do.”
Prosper
Dr Goodwin said that her successor, current operations director Marcus Gover, will find WRAP in a ‘good footing’ on 1 July. “I think it will grow and prosper. One of the reasons for choosing now, it that it is in a good state financially.”
On her future activities, she says that her first stop will be a brief holiday, before getting straight back into work: “I’m going to take a couple of months’ holiday first of all. Then I’m going to look at getting back into things and I’ll still be working on the things that I care about – consumption, food waste and things like that. I’m getting close to deciding where that will be!”
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