Margaret Bates is currently on secondment to Defra as Head of Scheme Administrator at PackUK. She joined OPRL as Managing Director in 2020, previously she was Professor of Sustainable Wastes Management at the University of Northampton. She has been involved in wastes management for 30 years and undertook her PhD on landfill microbiology. She was previous President of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, is a Chartered Waste Manager, an International Wastes Manager, a Chartered Environmentalist and a Fellow of IOM3. Margaret has travelled the world looking at waste issues and has advised governments, businesses and NGO on sustainable resource and waste management.