Manchester Metropolitan University has partnered with clean-tech company Dsposal to improve and simplify its waste compliance by developing digital tools to help staff understand their legal obligations.

Waste producers are in the spotlight more than ever as waste crime continues to rise and significant legislative change is on the horizon. Recent Defra figures show fly-tipping reached a ten-year high and laws proposed under the recently released Environment Bill 2020 will hold waste producers increasingly responsible for where their waste ends up.

The university is making use of tech innovation in the sector to simplify and improve its waste management systems and be ready for changes in the law. In this evolving landscape, Manchester Metropolitan University chose to work with Manchester-based Dsposal to develop a new approach to waste compliance training delivered via Dsposal’s innovative online platform.

Rosie Barker, Waste and Recycling Manager at Manchester Metropolitan, said

“We are an award-winning university for sustainability and take our waste compliance very seriously.

“I was really impressed with Dsposal’s approach, which was not like anything else I’d seen in this sector; it was intuitive and easy-to-use and I was keen to explore if we could develop some digital training modules together to help our staff understand their duty of care to waste.

“We have recently piloted the modules with a small team, the feedback so far has been great, and we aim to roll out more widely to staff later this year. From just the pilot training, staff have proactively identified and resolved issues with consignment notes which shows how effective the modules are.”

Dsposal worked with Manchester Metropolitan to develop two digital training modules covering how to complete hazardous waste consignment notes and how to correctly determine if waste was hazardous or non-hazardous.

Sophie Walker, COO and Co-Founder of Dsposal, commented,

“Empowering waste producers to make better decisions with their waste is critical to moving to a more resource efficient future and the first step in that is making it easier for everyone to meet their legal obligations to waste.

The opportunity to co-develop a new user-friendly way to deliver knowledge and guidance on waste with a pioneering university like Manchester Metropolitan has been brilliant. We’re now offering these modules to all our customers as part of our holistic compliance services and exploring other topics to add to our online training library.

“With the industry on the cusp of digital transformation and all the legislative changes that are on the horizon it’s vital that organisations embrace technology that can help them through this complex and changing landscape.”