David Middleton makes an unlikely cupid but as the chief executive of the Midland Environmental Business Company, he has spent the past 13 years acting as matchmaker between business and environmental opportunities. Building up a business based around spotting where industry can move in to reuse waste and other sustainable resources for both financial profit and general environmental gain came after an unexpected ministerial announcement. "During a career travelling the world in corporate communications, I became increasingly concerned about environmental problems so in 1990 I staged the Environmental Business Challenge Conference," he says. "Much to our amazement, David Trippier, the Minister for the Environment and Countryside at the time, congratulated us on what he called the Midlands Environmental Business Club. I suppose it created a career change of fairly significant magnitude in my mid-40s." A few months ago, the club became the Midland Environmental Business Company but the ethos underlying much of its work with agencies including Advantage West Midlands remains the same. "I felt there was no way to change the downward environmental spiral without the business community getting involved. And the only way they would get involved would be to approach them with the positive benefits rather than blasting them with negatives," says Mr Middleton. In doing so, the MEBC works alongside AWM but this nearly did not happen. "In 1999, I went fairly ballistically ape when a draft regional environmental strategy did not have reference to the environment as a business issue. As a result, it was added as a target growth sector for the region," says Mr Middleton. A lot has changed since then. "We are now very heavily involved with AWM who support us on a project-by-project basis. From being critical of them in the early days, we can now only applaud the support we have received in achieving our aims," says Mr Middleton. The MEBC, which has a representative from Cadbury on the board, and the Business Council for Sustainable Development - UK, a national organisation of which Mr Middleton is also chief executive, profit from straddling both the business and environmental protection communities. "We are very proactive in examining the business opportunities arising from both change created by environmental impact and in reducing that impact to start with," he says. "For example, climate change is generally thought of only in a negative form. But where climate change does have an impact, then we point out that responses such as flood defence mechanisms and roof gardens - which absorb rain likely to cause flash floods - also create business opportunities." The move to renewable energy is providing a wealth of opportunities for the region's hard-hit manufacturers. "In the Midlands we make gears and cogs which could go into modern day windmills. If you look into one of those things, they bear a great resemblance to truck parts," says Mr Middleton. The market for renewable resources is growing at a remarkable rate and Mr Middleton is passionate about the region tapping into it. "Looking at biotech waste reuse, there are enormous possibilities," says Mr Middleton. "I think it could be the biggest economic opportunity this region has ever had. We have the capacity and capability to respond to the needs of the market here in the Midlands. But for the most part, the engineering sector does not know that it exists. That is where we come in." Wind power was discussed at one of the MEBC's regional business breakfasts. On such occasions, in what is typical of the company's proactive approach, business leaders are invited to listen to the MEBC's current thinking. "We said that we are looking at wind power in partnership with AWM. With the development agency we went on to carry out research that put a value on the market. There is now significant interest from the Midland engineering sector in what is a very major opportunity," says Mr Middleton. Another MEBC initiative, SEXI" Sustainable Exhibition Industry project - informed the exhibition industry that it was wasting £70 million a year. "Before we got involved, no one had a clue about how much waste it was developing. It was responsible for 120,000 tonnes of waste going straight to landfill each year. But I'm now chuffed to say that of its own volition the industry has adopted recommendations that will really change things," says Mr Middleton. But he still has some way to go before achieving his dream. "We are focused on the sharp end of business. When it works we bang the drum and when there is a blockage in the system we try to unblock it. We are at the start of a cultural change," he says. Representing this determination to drive the agenda forward the BCSD-UK is running the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme, which seeks to encourage sustainable economic growth, social responsibility and environmental protection. "We did say some time ago that the industrial revolution started here. This is the second industrial revolution because we are revolutionising the way people think about sustainable development. I suppose we are really trying to change everyone's thinking on the area," says Mr Middleton. | 
