The 2008 RICS Minerals and Waste Management Faculty Annual Conference took place on 14 March at the Jury's Inn Hotel in Milton Keynes. Attendees were presented with an excellent line-up of speakers that explored the latest developments in the industry and the changes affecting the sector in the UK and as well as abroad.

Highlights of the conference programme included:

Chairman's welcome and introduction to the morning session
Andrew Fitzherbert, M T S Consultancy Ltd
RICS Minerals and Waste Management Faculty board update
Rachel Halley, Global Acquisitions and Disposal Standards Manager, Shell International and Chair, RICS Minerals & Waste Management Faculty

Waste
Environmental Crime – geospacial expert witness evidence
Mike Sutton, Environmental Agency and President, Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
Developments in sustainable production and consumption strategy and waste at EU level
Jakub Wejchert, European Commission

Mining
Aspects of the law affecting mining operations
Peter Vincent
Chairman's welcome and introduction to the afternoon session
Barnaby Pilgrim, H J Banks

Waste and energy
The use of Willow Coppice as a bio-filter
Michael Doran, Director, Rural Generation and Chair, RICS Environment Faculty
Biogas: converting organic wastes to energy – local solution to a local problem
Peter McKendry, Technical Director, SLR Consulting 

Soil/contamination
Soil Framework Directive
Maya de Souza, Head of Solis Policy Team, Natural Environment Group, DEFRA 

Various speakers' presentations are available from the PDF Downloads column to the right of this page.