The study outlines a raft of policy changes at European, national and local level that, the organisation believes, will be needed to help boost recycling rates and, as the “ultimate goal”, phase out residual waste.
Thousands of tonnes of valuable materials are squandered in landfill and incinerators ever year. This study shows that a range of simple steps – by councils and government – can help stop this waste
Michael Warhurst, Friends of the Earth
And, the group claimed that reducing residual waste, “reduces the need for facilities such as landfill, incinerators and mechanical biological treatment plants to process it.”
“Higher levels of reuse, recycling and composting will reduce climate impacts and increase resource efficiency,” it added.
Actions
Among the key policy actions advocated by the report, compiled by Glasgow consultancy EnviroCentre on behalf of the environmental group, are the introduction of a number of taxes and levies.
These include an escalation of landfill tax, the introduction of a tax on incineration and, increasing VAT on disposable goods.
The Friends of the Earth (FoE) document also calls for an “integrated materials and carbon levy” to be considered, which would be based on a product's “material and carbon intensity”.
And, it calls for government to establish a legislative framework for four key areas; banning the landfilling of recyclable and compostable materials, setting long-term goals for waste prevention and minimisation, extending both statutory and voluntary producer responsibility, and, increasing of mandatory recycling targets in areas such as packaging.
Valuable
Commenting on the report, FoE's senior Resources and Waste Campaigner Michael Warhurst said: “Thousands of tonnes of valuable materials are squandered in landfill and incinerators ever year. This study shows that a range of simple steps – by councils and government – can help stop this waste.”
“Councils can save money by creating effective recycling and reuse of furniture and DIY waste, while the Government must get plastic packaging out of the bin by increasing the legal recycling target for the packaging industry,” he added.
Packaging is one of six waste streams that were identified as a “priority waste stream for action” by phase one of the FoE research, which was published earlier in the year and examined the materials contained within municipal residual waste.
The report also lists furniture, household DIY waste, nappies, “other paper and card” (for example, wallpaper and photos) and household hazardous waste as other priority streams.
Europe
In terms of action at a European level, Friends of the Earth advocate the development of policy in eco-design and producer responsibility – extending the latter to non-energy using products, as well as a labelling scheme to make consumers aware of the environmental impact of products.
UK
As well as the legislative changes and levies recommended to the UK Government, the report also calls for improved market development, including public sector procurement policies and increased recycled product specifications.
And, alongside the setting of waste reduction targets, it emphasises the important role the public has, calling for both a national labelling scheme and the “development of a communication campaign to improve awareness at a national level”.
Dealing with matters at a local level, the report also recommends a communication campaign, as well as increased use of producer responsibility agreements and using the proposed increases in levies and VAT to help fund councils' attempts to deal with residual waste – for example, helping them to collect wastes separately to enable recycling.
The possibility of linking the VAT system to sustainable product design was also mooted in last month's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on waste reduction, which products produced in a more sustainable way could benefit from lower VAT rates (see letsrecycle.com story).
Waste streams
Examining plastics, the report explained that, as well as reducing the number of plastics used in packaging to only include those that can be recycled or composted, there could be a ban on recyclable plastics being sent to landfill and “the introduction of product taxes/variable VAT on hard-to-recycle materials”.
While setting its sights on phasing out plastic packaging in favour of compostable packaging in the long term, in the meantime, the study calls for higher packaging recycling targets and more mixed plastic recycling.
With regards furniture, it calls for a focus on producer responsibility, eco-design and improvements to collection systems to promote reuse by methods such as working with charities, as well as promoting best practice to councils and recyclers.
Best practice is also a key component of the report's recommendations for action on household DIY wastes, including the creation of a “user-friendly” DIY waste prevention protocol for householders.
And, eco-design appears again as a policy suggestion with regards both nappies and paper such as wallpaper and card, while the report also advocates the introduction of a levy to be applied to disposable nappies to reduce their use and launching research programmes for products such as compostable wallpaper.
The option of increasing VAT on hard-to-recycle items features again with the report's recommendations for dealing with household hazardous waste, with reference to items such as nickel cadmium batteries, and it also calls for their “mandatory” separation from the residual waste stream.
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