Addressing the claims at the London Excel Resource Event 2015 yesterday (March 4), the South Thanet MP said many Conservatives were ‘extremely pro’ the circular economy agenda – but were not making their voices heard.
The criticism follows the coalition government’s lukewarm reception to a statutory 70% recycling target included in the EU Commission’s circular economy package last year – which has since been scrapped in favour of a different set of proposals (see letsrecycle.com story).
Ms Sandys said: “There are voices within the Conservative Party that are extremely pro this agenda, but they are not loud enough. I would absolutely dispute that this isn’t about competitiveness. This is completely about competitiveness, resilience and long term resource security.”
BIS
Ms Sandys was speaking at the event to promote the creation of a ‘resource efficiency unit’ within the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) – which she believes should take responsibility for the waste brief currently held by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).
Ms Sandys also called for a ‘standardised’ recycling system on how collections are carried out in England, as well as incentives for people to recycle certain types of waste when there is a shortage in materials.
It reaffirmed the proposals Ms Sandys previously put forward in her role within the 2020 Conservatives productivity and efficiency group, which called for the department transfer as well as landfill bans on a range of materials including food waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
She added: “I believe we could get a more efficient system as well which reduces our carbon and reduces our waste. Defra is there to manage waste but they are not looking at resources as an opportunity. Defra needs to manage the waste part of it but not the overall policy.”
Election
Answering questions on the upcoming general election, Ms Sandys said she ‘very much hoped’ that a Conservative MP would win her South Thanet seat when she steps down in May.
On leaving politics, Ms Sandys plans to set up her own organisation called ‘Challenging Ideas’ which will offer advice on the food, energy and resources sector.
Asked by letsrecycle.com what she thought of the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto pledge to introduce a 70% recycling target by 2030, Ms Sandys said there needed to be greater support for resource policies ‘across all political parties’.
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