WRAP business plan shifts focus away from councils

As reported by letsrecycle.com yesterday, the Plans priorities are to minimise resource use in products and buildings and to divert priority materials from landfill, with the emphasis on waste prevention. The Plan, which is entitled Working Together for a world without waste, specifies food waste, plastics, textiles and commercial and industrial (C&I) waste as those priority materials.

In particular, it outlines a number of key areas for action, which are:
Preventing food and drink waste;
Increasing the resource efficiency of products;
Increasing the resource efficiency of construction and refurbishment projects;
Improving the collection of materials for recycling and reuse;
Helping SMEs to become more resource efficient;
Recycling organic waste and recovering energy;
And, increasing the reuse and recycling of priority products.

However, there is little direct mention in the Plan of the role that local authorities have to play in addressing these goals, except with reference to WRAPs work with councils to help them deliver a cost effective and quality recycling service.

This would appear to bear out suggestions made when WRAP director of local government services Phillip Ward left his role in March 2011 that the organisation was shifting away from its original focus on local authority support, alongside market development (see letsrecycle.com story).

Market support

Market support does, however, continue to figure significantly in WRAPs priorities, with a particular focus on growing both existing and new market for quality products from AD, composting and energy-from-waste facilities.

This is highlighted as a key aspect in the Plans aim to bring about an 8% reduction in the amount of food and wood waste sent to landfill by 2015 one of a number of percentage-based goals set in the Plan.

Other targets include:
Achieving a 3.2 million tonne a year reducing in CO2-equivalent emissions associated with avoidable food and drink waste by 2015;
Embedding resource efficiency in 30% of construction and refurbishment design products by 2015;
Reducing the amount of food, packaging, textile and electrical waste sent to landfill by 5% between now and 2015 by making it easier for households, businesses and the public sector to recycle and reuse more;
Save SMEs 20 million a year by 2015 through better resource use;
And, developing a closed loop economy to reduce the amount of packaging, textile, furniture and electrical waste sent to landfill by 5% by 2015.

Growth

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) claims that addressing its priorities will save the economy 1.9 billion between 2011 and 2015 and help bring about 130 million annual growth in the resource management sector.

WRAP also aims to avoid seven million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide emissions and claims it will help to divert three million tonnes of biodegradable waste from landfill a year.

Launching the plan at the CIWM with ESA conference today, WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin said the Plan was underpinned by each of the four UK governments acceptance that resource efficiency was central to their environmental objectives.

She said: A huge amount has been achieved over recent years and Im proud of WRAPs role in that but there is still much to do. Were really optimistic that the UK will embrace the challenges ahead not just because greater resource efficiency is sustainable and good for the environment, but because it saves money, and generates new opportunities for businesses and creates jobs.

To make this happen, our focus will be on minimising resource use and diverting waste from landfill. The targets weve set ourselves are stretching but we have a track record of delivering the goals set in previous plans so these are achievable, particularly if we all work together.