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Richard Hooper

Richard Hooper

Principal Environmental Consultant, Mayer Environmental

Dr Richard Hooper is a commercially focused Chemist with over 20 years' experience in waste management and recycling. In a career that started out in the field of polymer synthesis and next into plastics recycling he then transferred his analytical training into industrial expertise into non-metallic materials recovery, developing bespoke separation processes aimed at developing market driven materials with economic benefits.
Over the past 20 years, Richard has been at the forefront of waste classification (WM3) requirements for heterogeneous mixtures of materials derived from mechanical processing of items including waste electrical and electronics (WEEE) and end-of-life vehicles (ELV). Where more refined separation was beneficial (i.e. single stream materials) he also helped to develop authoritative information (data sheets) relevant to the material and end market buyers. More recently, with the addition of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to waste classification requirements, his knowledge of polymers and plastics potentially containing these compounds is helping clients to identify and quantify issues that these 'unseen' chemicals may present at the current time and into the future.
As such, his work involves regular liaison with the recycling industry, legislators and trade associations. Keeping an eye on the technical regulations on behalf of his clients allows them to continue their practical work whilst keeping them informed and able to adapt to changes where necessary.

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