Funds sought for London waste prevention initiative

The “Reduce” project is attempting to gain from lessons learned on the Continent and could lead to a local waste prevention campaign in London.

The project is hoping to test various waste minimisation initiatives in the Western Riverside area of central London – the four boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

These initiatives could include anti-junk mail campaigns, “say no to plastic bag” campaigns and an initiative to promote the drinking of tap water in order to reduce the purchasing of bottled water, and in turn plastic waste.

Jim Fielder, who is running the Reduce project in the UK, said last night that the project requires 300,000 to run its full course until 2008. It has already been funded with about 300,000 from European funds and through Defra's research and development programme, but this lasts only until this time next year. “We need to find match funding for after September 2006,” he said.

Recycle Western Riverside is run by the waste education group Waste Watch, which has suffered funding difficulties after the loss of a major Defra grant this year (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Reduce project is looking to pre-empt waste minimisation objectives that could be included in Europe's Thematic Strategy on waste prevention and recycling.

Plastic
Although waste minimisation programmes like home composting and junk mail initiatives are already widely used by UK local authorities, the project is particularly keen to test campaigns on bottled water and on plastic bags in London.

Mr Fielder said: “One particular project they have been very successful with is reducing plastic bottle waste by promoting tap water. In Belgium this has been tied to a health message – working with health professionals to get a voice of authority to say it is perfectly safe to drink tap water.”

He said discussions were taking place with Thames Water concerning their support of such an initiative.

The project will also be seeking to work with local businesses in London to find alternatives to marketing through junk mail.

Charging
As well as carrying out research, the Reduce project is to set up exchange trips to send local authority officers to Belgium to learn best practice there, Mr Fielder said.

However, he conceded that one of the reasons Belgium has had success with its waste prevention initiatives is that the country has a direct charging system for waste, which gives financial incentive for householders to reduce their waste production.

Evaluation of the project looks set to include surveys of residents and surveys, but is yet to be fully determined. The impact of awareness campaigns is notoriously difficult to measure. Mr Fielder said of the project in the UK: “We're not expecting to achieve substantial reduction in overall waste levels in the next three years, but it is about making a start.”