The group is made up of representatives from industry, government and other organisations interested in waste minimisation, re-use and recycling. The Steering Committee will be subject to a review after its initial term of 12 months.
DEFRA's Waste Implementation Programme was set up as part of the government's reponse to the Strategy Unit's Waste Not Want Not report (see letsrecycle.com story). The Steering Group was one of the recommendations made by the Strategy Unit.
The Committee will report to Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and work closely with environment minister Elliot Morley.
Commenting on the announced Steering Committee, Mr Morley said: “It is vital that we bring about a step change in our waste performance. The amount of waste currently sent to landfill is unsustainably high and we need to take immediate action to remedy this. The impact of this programme will be far-reaching and will affect every householder in the country.”
The chairman of the group will be David Varney, chairman of the mobile phone service company mmO2.
The other members of the group are:
- David Riddle, chief executive of Cory Environmental and deputy chairman of the Environmental Services Association (ESA)
- Sir John Harman, chairman of the Environment Agency
- Vic Cocker, chairman of WRAP and a member of the government's Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment
- Kay Twitchen, Essex county councillor, chairman of ReMaDe Essex, President of the Association for the Sustainable Use and Recovery of Resources in Europe (ASSURRE), a non-executive director of WRAP and Chairman of the Local Government Association Waste and Environmental Management Executive
- Andy Moore, coordinator of the Community Recycling Network
- David North, government affairs director at Tesco, formerly senior policy advisor on the environment, food and farming at 10, Downing Street
- Bill Stow, director general of environment protection in DEFRA and a member of the DEFRA management board
- Dan Corry, director of the New Local Government Network
- Lynton Barker, chairman of HEDRA consulting services
- Fiona Driscoll, a member of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, a member of the Treasury's Public Services Productivity Panel, a non-executive director for several companies and the strategic director of HEDRA
- Maxine Holdsworth, senior policy officer at the National Consumer Council
- John Schultz, chief executive of Stockport Metropolitan Borough and lead adviser to the North West Regional Assembly on planning, environment, and transport (including waste management)
- Gordon Shields, founder of Shields Environmental an environmental management company best known for its fonebak recycling scheme
Mr Varney said: “This Committee has an ideal range of skills and experience to drive delivery of this new and exciting programme. I am very pleased to see all key stakeholders represented and greatly look forward to working with them.”
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