Selected projects

Client: Imperial College London

Project title: Website review

Date: 2023

Dan's role: Dan advised on improvements to structure and content of the website of the Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), a pioneering university department. The work included interviews with website users, peer analysis, and developing recommendations to improve the website's content and navigability for a range of users, including staff, students and the media.

Further information: Imperial College London - Centre for Environmental Policy
Client: Defra (Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)

Project title: Extended producer responsibility system for textiles

Date: 2021-22

Dan's role: Dan conducted research to inform a potential new extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy for textiles. The work included interviews with policy stakeholders across the UK and Europe.

Further information: Government unveils plans for wide-ranging Waste Prevention Programme
Client: Google

Project title: Cutting plastic usage

Date: 2020-21

Dan's role: As an associate of WRAP, Dan supported Google to cut the environmental impact of single-use plastic packaging across global food operations. The work involved working with gTech Sustainability to identify the different types of plastic used in staff canteens and other food service outlets, map the flows based on procurement of thousands of different stock-keeping units, and research options to reduce the amount of plastic used.
Client: European Commission - Joint Research Council

Project title: EREK preliminary stakeholder survey

Date: 2020

Dan's role: The European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Centre (EREK) inspires and supports European companies, especially SMEs, to save resources (energy, material and water) and cut associated costs. Under time pressures - and amid the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic - Dan successfully gathered and analysed feedback on the EREK platform from numerous companies and business support organisations in 20 countries across Europe to inform improvements to the content and design.

Client Testimonial

Further information: EREK Platform
Client: University of Exeter - Business School

Project title: Food & the Circular Economy South West

Dates: 2016 - 2020

Dan's role: As Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Busines School, Dan worked closely with a multidisciplinary team of academics to deliver this 30-month, c. £400k research project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The aim of the project was to support food and drink SMEs in South West England work towards the circular economy. Dan engaged stakeholders and conducted a variety of research, writing, communications and impact tasks. He was also instrumental in writing the original successful funding application in 2016. Dan personally recruited a dozen SME bakery and dairy processors across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset and drafted much of the proposal including responses to some ‘tricky’ reviewer feedback.

Further information: Food and the Circular Economy South West

Project Video (20 minute-version) produced and directed by Dan, working with Fresh Ground Films:
Client: Zero Waste Scotland

Project title: Post-consumer textiles management

Date: 2020

Dan's role: Dan undertook a rapid and comprehensive survey of Scottish local authorities’ management of post-consumer textiles and footwear, gathering detailed information on: arisings/tonnages, mixes, values paid; management practices including collection routes (e.g. textile banks, kerbside collections, charity shops, etc); sorting and pre-processing techniques; end fates (reuse vs recycling vs incineration, etc.) Despite extreme time pressure, Dan (working as an associate of the consultancy Oakdene Hollins) was able to engage productively and directly with key personnel at a range of local authorities to gather the necessary data.

Client Testimonial
 
Further information: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/our-work-textiles
Client: Fishtek Marine

Project title: SharkGuard

Dates: 2018 - 2020

Dan's role: SharkGuard is a revolutionary new device that uses electric pulses to deter sharks and other elasmobranch from the fishing hooks in long-line sea fisheries, reducing the incidence of bycatch while not interfering with target species (e.g. tuna). Dan successfully led the grant application for a €290k project, funded by EU Eurostars and Innovate-UK, to manufacture and trial the SharkGuard prototype in the Mediterranean Sea in 2019. For the duration of the two-year project Dan coordinated communications, exploitation plan, Steering Committee management, and quarterly project reporting to the Innovate-UK monitoring officer.
 
Client Testimonial

Further information: SharkGuard
Client: Defra (UK Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)

Project title: Consultation on the Extended Producer Responsibility system for waste packaging

Dates: 2019

Dan's role: As an associate of Resource Futures, Dan analysed responses to Defra's consultation on a proposed new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system for waste packaging in the UK. Dan used a coding system to score more than 600 responses against over 90 questions, to synthesize key messages in various report sections.

Further information: Consultation on reforming the UK packaging producer responsibility system
Client: European Commission - Joint Research Council

Project title: Best environmental management practices in food & drink manufacturing

Dates: 2014, 2019 (Revision)

Dan's role: Developed by the European Commission's Joint Research Council (JRC), best environmental management practices (BEMPs) are techniques, measures or actions that allow organisations to minimise their impact on the environment in all aspects under their direct control or on which they have a considerable influence. As an associate of Oakdene Hollins, Dan researched and drafted BEMPs for the food and drink manufacturing industry, engaging with experts and businesses in the production of coffee, olive oil, soft drinks, beer, meat, fruit juice, cheese, and bakery production. Dan revised the BEMPs in 2019.

Further information: Best environmental management practice
Client: The European Container Glass Federation (FEVE)

Project title: Raise the Glass. Study on Impact Assessment of Deposit Return Schemes.

Dates: 2017 - 2018

Dan's role: FEVE members produce over 80 billion glass containers (jars, bottles, etc.) per year in 160 manufacturing plants across 23 European States. As an associate of Oakdene Hollins, Dan conducted detailed market research for FEVE on various schemes and policies around Europe for recovering, reusing and recycling post-consumer food and drink containers, including glass, plastic, metal and polycarton packaging.

Client Testimonial

Further information: Raise the Glass (Final Report)
Client: University of Exeter - Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB)

Project title: Multispectral Image Calibration and Analysis Toolbox - Market research 

Dates: 2016 - 2017

Dan's role: The University of Exeter's Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB) team asked Dan to explore possible commercial applications for clever new software developed by Exeter's Sensory Ecology and Evolution research group. Using a bit of lateral thinking and tenacious research skills, Dan showed that the tools, which can convert a digital image to how an animal like a cat, dog or horse might perceive it, are of value for a wide variety of business sectors.  
 
Further information: Sensory Ecology & Evolution
Client: Resource Futures  

Project title: Flat glass recycling - Market & technical study

Dates: 2016

Dan's role: As an associate of Resource Futures, an environmental consultancy, Dan undertook market and technical research into the UK flat glass market including a review of possible technologies for reprocessing laminated glass. The work was funded by a confidential client.
Client: WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme)

Project title: Resource Efficient Business Models (REBus)

Dates: 2015 - 2016

Dan's role: A European-wide initiative - funded by LIFE+ and led by WRAP - the REBus project aims to demonstrate how both large organisations and SMEs can work with their supply chains to implement resource efficient business models in four key markets: electrical and electronic products, clothing and textiles, furniture and construction products. As an associate of QSA Partners LLP, Dan delivered market and technical research across several of these product groups, identifying and interviewing sector stakeholders and producing reports and other documents.

Further information: http://www.wrap.org.uk/REBus
Client: ICEDD (Institut de Conseil et d'Etudes en Développement Durable - Institute for Consultancy and Studies in Sustainable Development, Belgium)

Project title: Roadmap 2050 FEVIA (food & drink industry)

Dates: 2015 - 2016

Dan's role: Working as an associate of the British consultancy Oakdene Hollins and ICEDD (Belgium's Institute for Consultancy and Studies in Sustainable Development) Dan undertook rapid research into technological innovations for improving the resource efficiency of the food and beverage industry. Topics covered included homogenisation, enzymes, pasteurisation and sterilisation, cleaning-in-place (CIP), microwave oven and other advanced oven technologies, and drying technologies. Dan's findings results were used by FEVIA, the Belgian Food Industry Federation, as part of the national input to the EU's   Roadmap 2050 initiative. 

Further information: http://www.roadmap2050.eu/

Client Testimonial
Client: Greenpeace

Project title: A critical review of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Life Cycle Metrics for Chemical Products

Date: 2016

Dan's role: The Greenpeace Research Laboratories in Exeter, UK, asked Dan to briefly review Life Cycle Metrics for Chemical Products, a guidance document published in October 2014 by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. Dan evaluated the document’s usefulness in supporting true sustainability in the chemicals industry. Also of interest was the extent to which the document, and its approaches, have already been adopted by European chemical companies, and what the outcomes have been. Dan's work informed Greenpeace's input to the UK's Chemicals Stakeholder Forum.    

Client Testimonial

Further information: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-chemicals-stakeholder-forum
Client: Natural Devon

Project title: Various communications tasks

Date: 2015

Dan's role: Natural Devon, the Devon Local Nature Partnership, aims to protect and improve the county's natural environment, grow its green economy and reconnect Devon’s people with nature. Dan undertook a series of communications tasks including streamlining the website (which had started to get a bit confusing) and re-writing large sections of text in a jargon-free readable style to distil the essence of the organisation's mission.

Further information: http://www.naturaldevon.org.uk/
Client: Defra (Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)

Project title: Enhanced inspection evaluation design - GB plant health policy 

Date: 2015

Dan's role: Working as an associate of ICF International, Dan helped design an evaluation framework to facilitate a multi-method, inter-disciplinary evaluation of Defra's Plant Health Enhanced Inspection and Surveillance (PHEIS) budget. In the wake of high-profile outbreaks such as Chalara (ash dieback) and Phytophthora ramorum, the aim was to determine the effectiveness of the Programme as a whole in safeguarding the health of plants in Great Britain. Dan undertook semi-structured stakeholder interviews across the relevant various government agencies including the Animal Plant and Health Agency, Fera, Forestry Commission and Forest Research.

Further information: PHEIS Evaluation Report
CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL
Client: An internationally recognised waste management company

Project title: Recyclates and residues: An assessment of markets for the output materials from a planned combined mechanical treatment and advanced thermal treatment (ATT) facility in the UK

Date: 2015

Dan's role: The client planned to develop an ATT gasification plant in the UK processing mixed commercial and industrial waste. Working as an associate of Oakdene Hollins, Dan investigated potential destinations and customers in the UK and overseas for a variety of output materials, the revenue per tonne which each material could attract - as well as past and future price trends.  In addition, Dan established the costs for disposal of residuals from the proposed facility.

Client Testimonial

Further information: Defra (2013). Advanced thermal treatment of municipal solid waste.
Client: European Commission - Joint Research Council

Project title: Technical Support for the Revision of GPP (Green Public Procurement) Criteria for the Product and Service Group "Food and Catering Services”

Date: 2015

Dan's role: The European Commission is in the process of providing new (voluntary) sustainability criteria which the public sector can stipulate when procuring new catering and food service provision. As part of a team led by Oakdene Hollins, Dan researched leading examples of new ways that food service is provided across Europe in order to cut waste, improve health, and offer other sustainability benefits. Trends were considered across different member states, types of procuring organisation (e.g. schools, health and social care, defence, prisons), key product groups (e.g. fruit & veg; aquaculture, marine, meat & dairy; drinks) and preparation modes (e.g. off-site pre-prepared vs. freshly cooked on site).

Further information: Green Public Procurement for Food and Catering Services