15/05/2008 - SITA Centre celebrates five years sustaining our future
The University of Northampton's SITA Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management's five year success story will be celebrated on Wednesday 21st May when nearly 100 VIPs from across the wastes management sector, academia and business visit Park Campus to toast its achievements.
Five years ago, the SITA Trust, a funding organisation that supports community and environmental improvement projects in the UK, allocated £1.5 million to the University of Northampton to launch the SITA Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management at Park Campus. The Centre has far exceeded initial expectations, as Marek Gordon, Chairman of the SITA Trust, explains:
"The five year plan was a highly ambitious project in terms of the funding involved and the outcomes it was designed to achieve - simply, that The University of Northampton would become the premier UK centre for applied waste management.
"When looking at what has been achieved over the last five years, there can be little doubt that the ambition has been realised. The plan has delivered on a wide range of initiative."
Achievements include helping local businesses cut waste, improve efficiency and tighten resources, saving them £7million and training over 500 business people in the East Midlands on environmental and waste issues. The SITA Centre was also awarded the prestigious title of a United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise for Education for Sustainable Development, and Dr Margaret Bates was recognised in Resource 2008's 'Hot 100' list of the most aspiring 'agents of change', climbing 32 places from 2006.
Five PhDs and one MPhil were awarded last year to SITA Centre students and PhD student Shanom Ali attracted national attention for his groundbreaking research into the health implications of fortnightly rubbish collections. Also impressive is the acquisition and cataloguing of the AEA (Atomic Energy Authority) collection of waste management publications, fully incorporated into the University's library whichis now Britain's largest of its kind.
Dr Bates commented:
"We are extremely proud of our accomplishments and are very greatful to all of our local, national and international partners. It is with their help that we have grown into the world's foremost centre for education and research in this increasingly important field of study."