His comments came as he faced criticism for the way that key policy instruments for achieving carbon reduction, such as emissions reduction and trading, appeared to overlook the waste sector.
I have no doubt waste is going to play a very important part in how we take forward these carbon budgets
Daniel Instone, head of waste strategy, Defra
Speaking at the letsrecycle.com 'Collection Conference', held in London yesterday (May 19), Mr Instone said: “I have no doubt waste is going to play a very important part in how we take forward these carbon budgets.”
The government announced the 'world's first' carbon budgets in this year's Budget, setting a target of reducing emissions by 34% of their 1990 levels by 2020, but the exact details of how this will be achieved by each department are not expected until later this year (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Instone also said that he envisaged a greater role for carbon measurement, or metrics, in relation to the waste sector, explaining that: “I think over time you are going to see much more linking waste to how much carbon you actually use.”
And, he pointed towards previous work by Defra, and in particular the Waste Strategy 2007, as proof of the link already existing, explaining that: “I think we have thought very strongly about linking carbon and waste agendas very much.”
However, the current links being made in policy between waste and carbon reduction came under attack from Andrew Craig, principal policy officer for the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC).
“It's true it is in Waste Strategy 2007 but the main government legislation is the Climate Change Act, in which the main instruments are a number of cap and trade schemes in which emissions relating to waste are not included at all,” he claimed.
“They are measuring reduction of carbon dioxide for transport and buildings, but for consumption it's just not measured,” he added.
Mr Craig also told the event that he was “making the case here for more correspondence, between private sector businesses that promote consumption, and local authorities”.
And, he added that: “In the future we will have to have much more of a carbon focus.”
Collection
The event also heard comments on Mr Instone on the source-separated vs. commingled collection debate, as he called for quality to be put at the forefront of any collection decision.
“I think our general method is both are going to have a key role to play, the key here is quality,” he said. “I think it was quite wrong to say there is a single solution, I think the key is that it's done well with an emphasis on quality.”
And, commenting on a potential move to standardisation of collections, he added: “There clearly are calls for more standardisation. How do you balance that against the need for constant innovation?”
“It's almost the biggest debate, I don't know quite the answer,” he said.
“One thing I'm really clear about is that we must not stifle innovation, we must encourage it,” Mr Instone explaining, stressing that local authorities were “best-placed” to decide on collection methods.
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