Defra outlines plans to tackle C&I waste

It is evident the first thing we need to do is get better data and update the survey

 
Roy Hathaway, Defra

Speaking at the Futuresource conference last Thursday (June 11), Roy Hathaway, head of waste regulation and business waste at Defra, said that “the data we have is very long in the tooth”, with the last survey being undertaken in 2002.

Mr Hathaway said that more attention should be paid to C&I waste as the 2002 figures showed that 24% of all waste in the UK came from commerce and industry, although he added this may have changed since the survey was done.

He stressed that C&I waste should have the same amount of attention paid to recycling and reducing it as municipal waste currently does and claimed it was important for C&I waste to be treated using the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' waste hierarchy. 

The need to tackle the waste stream and provide more up-to-date data was last year highlighted in the department's Waste Strategy Progress report (see letsrecycle.com story). And, last October the Environment Agency called for more attention to be given to commercial waste (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Hathaway said: “It is evident the first thing we need to do is get better data and update the survey.”

Policy 

Mr Hathaway said that Defra was researching policy and regulatory changes to find out the effect this could have on diverting C&I waste from landfill and was also looking at pilot schemes to prevent SMEs from sending waste to landfill.

He explained that Defra would release a full policy statement on C&I waste at the end of July this year which would bring together some of the key issues relating to the waste stream and the approaches it was taking.

In the meantime, he said he welcomed responses from the sector on Defra's work on C&I waste and requested ideas on how to reduce C&I waste to landfill.

Convergence

Speaking earlier in the day, Daniel Instone, head of Defra's waste programme, confirmed that it was a “key aim” of the government to “look for more convergence in policy between municipal and non-municipal waste… as the environmental impacts cut across all waste.”

He added that the government was reflecting this to an increasing degree, through policies including Landfill Tax – which applies to all wastes – and by looking at the possibility of future landfill bans.