Some of Owain’s key successes have included:

• Working in strategic, national roles for 17 years, supporting authorities achieve the highest recycling rates in the UK, while helping identify and implement efficiency savings which exceed £10mpa.

• In 2010, managing the first collection service in the UK to exceed a 50% recycling rate without the kerbside collection of green waste.

• Planning and delivery of the collation of all-Wales waste finance data for the WLGA.

• With Alex, planning and delivering the collation and assessment of performance and finance data for all Welsh authorities as part of the WRAP/WLGA Performance and Efficiency project. 

• Alongside Iwan, Owain has been intrinsic to the modelling, assessment, and adoption of collection services which has seen performance in three Welsh authorities exceed 70%, and has predicted similar performance for a further two pending service change.

• Having worked extensively with the highest performing local authorities in the UK, Owain knows exactly what is required for services to minimise materials managed, and to maximise the amount of high-quality, high-value recyclate that can feed a Circular Economy.

Relevant Experience:

• Considerable waste and recycling operational knowledge including five years as Operations Manager for a Welsh local authority.

• Extensive knowledge and understanding of waste cost and performance data.  Instrumental in establishing a national waste finance reporting and associated benchmarking project for Wales whilst working for the Welsh Local Government Association.

• Modelling Collection system Carbon impacts.

• Eight years as Senior Recycling & Collections Advisor at WRAP, leading several detailed options modelling and appraisal projects for local authorities, with a number of significant whole service changes introduced as a result.

• Provided support and evidence to Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities on a number of topics including the effect of residual waste restrictions on recycling performance, and the impact of the introduction of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme in Wales. 

Alex has been involved in a range of projects focused on waste management, the circular economy, and resource efficiency, designing innovative techniques and novel ways of interpreting/analysing data, these include:

• Alongside Owain, creating a method for quickly evaluating the performance and efficiency of local authority waste collections, providing targeted analysis of areas of strength, weakness, and risk.

• Undertaking local waste collections modelling and options appraisal using the Kerbside Assessment Tool (KAT) for Welsh local authorities.

• Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess regional HWRC requirements, local authority bring site provision, national AHP collections, kerbside collection timings, and trade waste collection resources.

• Providing support and evidence to Welsh Government and local authorities for policy decision making, including target modelling, and analysing the impacts of a Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) in Wales.

• Providing technical insight and project management for waste compositional analyses, the MyRecyclingWales website, EPR, and depot design.