And, he said that on the waste resource side, the UK “should stop pondering over whether directives are fair or not and act on them as well as the thematic strategies.”
The president, speaking at the CIWM annual reception in London, also warned of the dangers of cyclical patterns in environmental policy and called for more money to be given to the public sector.
” We need to plan and prepare carefully – we just don’t need another “fridge mountain”.“
– CIWM president Steve Aston
He recalled how “in the 1980s we presided over beef and butter mountains. Environmental policy is in danger of the same cyclical patterns with WEEE and fridges.”
Mr Aston dismissed the idea that waste arisings needed to be decoupled from economic growth saying instead that policies on waste should be linked to economic growth. He suggested that the solution to better resource management lay in the dismantling of products – “the key directive is the Integrated Product Policy Directive.”
Praising the work of the Waste and Resources Action Programme, Mr Aston said that the timescale for WRAP’s work was too short and it should be made longer to allow WRAP to “build on the excellent start they have made.” He added that increased spending should be made by government for the Environment Agency and the Department for Food and Rural Affairs.
The event was also addressed by James Walsh, parliamentary and EU adviser at the Institute of Directors, who said there was “a need for responsible regulation that didn’t destroy the growth of entrepreneurs.”
He went on to say that “business needs your help…the door of British business is open to waste management expertise”.
Speaking after the event, CIWM President, Mr Aston, said: “We were delighted to have James Walsh as our guest of honour. Waste and resource management is becoming a serious issue for businesses of all sizes. Many have yet to recognise how proper waste management costs and responsibilities are about to rise. We need to plan and prepare carefully – we just don’t need another “fridge mountain”. We need to make waste a boardroom and shopfloor issue and CIWM intends to work closely with partners like IoD to get this message across.
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