With two councils in England already signed up to the 'Zero Waste Charter' and another currently debating it, the Greens' Darren Johnson says: “The Mayor has rejected the Zero Waste initiative for London. However, a much more ambitious approach to waste reduction and recycling, such as this, could create many thousands of new jobs.”
Mr Johnston's thoughts come in the August 2002 edition of Red Pepper magazine. In the article, he states: “As London's traditional blue-collar sector has declined, an emerging “green collar” sector could provide huge opportunities and skilled jobs for those currently denied them.”
Mr Livingstone is due to respond to the article in the next edition of the magazine, however, it is expected that he will refuse to move any further than the current recycling targets. At a meeting of the GLA's environment committee, the mayor’s senior environmental policy advisor, John Duffy, said that there was no way the mayor could tighten recycling targets any further. He said: “The mayor's targets are to exceed the government targets. Consultation suggests targets are quite tough as they are.”
Ben Metz from the London Community Recycling Network believes that Zero Waste is more than about raising recycling targets, and if it is to work, it's not just London government or local authorities who will need to be taken on board.
“It's actually about a total revolution in waste management,” Mr Metz said, “and a revolution in waste management is only possible if every sector in society adopts it.”
However, although Mr Metz would not comment on whether such a revolution would be possible in the capital, he said that Zero Waste was something community recyclers would ultimately like to see. “It's not ideological,” he said, “it's common sense. In a way, you could almost look at Zero Waste as an interface for the public to be able to understand the complexity of resource management. It acts as a clean and credible way to bring waste issues to the public.”
Charter
The concept of Zero Waste came originally from a Japanese industrial idea of 'total quality management'. It encompasses producer responsibility, eco-design, waste reduction, re-use, composting and recycling all within a single framework.
Throughout the world, the target of zero waste is beginning to be taken seriously. In New Zealand, Zero Waste is one of the four top priorities of minister for the Environment Marian Hobbs, the Australian city of Canberra is aiming for zero waste by 2010, with interest in zero waste also being seen in California and Toronto, Canada.
The Zero Waste movement was launched in the UK in June 2002 by the Liberal MP for Guildford, Sue Doughty. The 'Zero Waste Charter' calls for local communities, elected councils and major institutions and corporations to put in place waste minimisation, recycling and composting measures to reach a zero waste target of 2020.
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