However, WRAP chief executive Dr Liz Goodwin today emphasised to letsrecycle.com that “incineration is not particularly on the agenda” although a work programme will be looking at energy from waste alongside areas WRAP is more traditionally associated with.
In the past WRAP has remarked on incineration issues and taken a stronger stance towards recycling. In 2006, commenting on a report it commissioned on the benefits of recycling, WRAP said this “also demonstrates that recycling our waste is better for the environment than burning or burying it. This is in line with current Government policy, which puts waste reduction and recycling at the heart of its strategy for diverting rubbish away from landfill.”
WRAP has undertaken some work in relation to energy from waste in the past, in particular on anaerobic digestion, but this has been quite limited to date.
Dr Goodwin explained that the organisation was looking to focus on four key areas when it takes leadership of the other Defra-funded bodies which currently have responsibility for resource efficiency, such as NISP and Envirowise (see letsrecycle.com story).
The areas are:
- Minimising waste and resource use and developing sustainable design;
- Developing practical guidance to help businesses become more resource efficient;
- Developing markets for recovered and recycled materials and energy from waste;
- Working with local authorities to reduce waste sent to landfill.
Dr Goodwin explained that “these are the four main priorities that Defra asked us to look at and we are structuring around that”, and that the secretary of state for the environment, Hilary Benn, had now signed off a plan for how WRAP planned to deliver the resource efficiency programme from April 2010.
And, she added that WRAP hoped to have put together a more detailed plan before Christmas 2009.
Energy from waste
Dr Goodwin stressed that, while energy from waste was now on WRAP's agenda, “it's not going to be a big focus”, with Defra still taking the lead on the subject.
However, she explained that WRAP would be focusing on the end markets side of energy from waste. “Defra is quite clear about what it sees our role being in that. It is about understanding the markets,” she said. “I think it is important as a resource efficiency body that we understand where the boundaries are between recycling and energy from waste.”
Noting that the work would be on “all sorts of energy from waste”, Dr Goodwin acknowledged that, “we perhaps don't have enough expertise on energy from waste”, and as a result WRAP could look to procure expertise in the area before beginning work on specific projects.
Progress
Providing an update on the progress of the move towards a single resource efficiency body, Dr Goodwin revealed that WRAP planned to put out tenders by the end of the week for some of the work it would be taking on from April 2010.
And, she added that WRAP had been in discussions with the likes of NISP and Envirowise about where they would “fit in” in the post-April 2010 resource efficiency delivery landscape.
Earlier this year, WRAP revealed that the move to a single body was set to result in efficiency savings over two years of just a tenth of WRAP's individual budget for 2008/09 (see letsrecycle.com story).
But, in terms of the body's future operations, Dr Goodwin explained that “we don't know about our budget – we're talking to Defra about it. We are working out what we need to deliver.”
She stressed that it was “early days” in terms of addressing staffing issues, but noted that it would be holding a consultation process with staff, with a “relatively small number” of posts set to be affected.
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