Waste and recycling minister Jane Kennedy has revealed that tackling business waste is to be a "top priority" for her at Defra over the coming months, following increasing pressure on the department to tackle the issue.

However, the minister has warned that councils could meanwhile "not afford" to divert their attention or investment away from municipal waste, advising them that in the long term that it would make financial sense despite the economic downturn.

I want to dispel the myth that being green costs money as in the long term it's simply not true

 
Jane Kennedy

The comments came on Wednesday (November 12) at the annual Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) conference in Telford, Shropshire.

Commenting on the current uncertainty for the waste and recycling sector posed by the economic crisis, the waste and recycling minister explained that some people might be convinced that times of hardship were not the right climate to focus on waste.

However, the minister called on councils not to lose focus, commenting: "Everyone has to tighten their belts at the moment - householders, businesses and of course local authorities alike. Some may think that this is not the right time to be green; that it's a bit difficult. I want to dispel the myth that being green costs money as in the long term it's simply not true."

The minister pointed to the fact that the vast majority of councils were currently meeting or exceeding their household recycling targets (see letsrecycle.com story), with less municipal waste going to landfill, something that she said had to be sustained during the onset of recession by continued investment to ensure a "solid and sustainable infrastructure is in place".

Ms Kennedy said: "I know all of you here today are facing difficult decisions in terms of managing your own budgets, but you simply cannot afford to divert your attention or investment on waste.

"In the long term it makes good financial sense to build upon all that has already been achieved - diverting investment away from waste means that vital ground will be lost in the long term," she added.

Business

Despite the emphasis on household waste, the minister said she was aware that it only made up a small percentage of all waste arisings in the UK and turned her focus to waste generated in the business sector, an area which the government has come under increasing pressure to tackle over the last year.

For instance, both a House of Lords Committee (see letsrecycle.com story) and the Environment Agency (see letsrecycle.com story) have urged the Government to pay increased attention to the waste generated by businesses.

Ms Kennedy said: "Working together we can achieve big cuts in waste, and reduce our impact on the environment. But I realise that it's not the sole responsibility of local authorities and householders to achieve this. After all municipal waste accounts for only a relatively small percentage of the waste production in England - around 10% - a fact that is often overlooked and which I was very surprised to learn."

Ms Kennedy explained that the Government would now develop proposals aimed at supporting businesses to look at ways they could reduce, reuse and recycle their waste, with a particular focus falling on small businesses. She added that the government hoped to offer support in light of Envirowise research which claimed businesses spend 4% of their annual turnover on waste disposal.

One area that the minister said that she hoped to make some real headway with regards to waste reduction and recycling was the construction and demolition sectors, with Ms Kennedy keen to build on targets to halve the amount of waste generated in these sectors by 2012.

Identifying work already done in this area, the minister said she believed the 2007 Waste Strategy for England had "rightly identified" construction and demolition waste as in need of action, leading to the Sustainable Construction Strategy launched in June and the legal requirement for each business to have a Site Waste Management Plans, which the minister believed would play a part in keeping focus on waste at this time of economic instability.