Meanwhile, he asserts that while the company compiled a long list of businesses to exit in order to focus on its core markets, the company after much back and forth is still debating which units to keep and which to sell or close.
Delegates at the conference, partly organised by the Keep Britain Tidy group and the British Toilet Association, are debating whether authorities could charge more for the use of public conveniences.
All this could take a while - and with the government reluctant to allocate more debating time, that could mean a few very late nights for peers, as ministers try to keep the bill on schedule.