Profile

I’ve always been interested in knowing why things do the things they do and then being able to explain that to someone else (why are there always 2 rainbows not 1?) and being a depository of information that I’m sure will come in useful somewhere (what’s minus 40 C in Fahrenheit?) I’m sure people aren’t listening all the time, but that doesn’t stop me…

I’m a big fan of classic sci-fi and horror films, a keen amateur astronomer, play electric bass in a local band and once injured myself chasing a cheese down a hill.

I’m hoping to use all the above skills to answer your questions!

I work for a company that makes hazardous waste safe to handle. If it’s really nasty we destroy it either by reacting it or by burning it (believe me, there are some really nasty chemicals about!) If it’s something less hazardous we can look at recycling it and putting it back into use. We do a lot of work with schools and universities – maybe we’ve already had some toxic waste from your science technicians?

Every day we receive a new query. Someone has found a load of drums of unknown contents in a field; a paint shop has a tank of something that might be really nasty but then again may not be as they’re not sure where it came from; a lab has a bottle of something that has dried out and become unstable…

I visit customers to look at jobs like these. If I’m not out I’ll be working on the plant helping process the waste that has come in, giving technical advice to customers, writing procedures to keep our staff safe, or maybe taking part in school outreach events to promote science.