Engineers back moving waste policy to BIS

Renewed pressure on government to set up a single body within the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to organise waste policy came today (June 26) from the UKs civil engineers.

In its annual Infrastructure, state of the nation report, the engineers association, the ICE added its voice to the idea that the circular economy and resource issues would be better handled within BIS.

The engineers also pick up on the pan-industry theme of the circular economy, recommending that a move from waste to resource management and a circular economy should be at the centre of government policy across the UK.

The report also looks briefly at bans on waste materials and what it sees as a lack of action over commercial waste.

Commenting on the idea of bans, the ICE calls for a broadening of bans on landfill and energy from waste although it is unclear what existing, if any bans, the Institution is calling for. It states: The establishment of a circular economy will require leadership from policymakers, embedding the idea across government, for example through broadening the ban on sending materials to either landfill or Energy from Waste (EfW) and developing minimum reuse/recycling targets similar to under End of Life Vehicles regulations.

Bans

But, contrary to the belief of the ICE, it is not thought that the UK has a ban on sending materials to energy from waste, apart from some specifically hazardous materials which are not suitable for energy from waste.

The report also tackles the issue of data covering municipal solid waste. It notes how this lacking and says that without data, resource management (and it follows, a circular economy) become difficult to implement. This not only affects investment in the waste sector but also has negative effects on other sectors, for example by creating uncertainty for EfW and associated combined heat and power operators.

In their report, the civil engineers also commented that more frequent extreme weather events will make it increasingly difficult to operate infrastructure networks in all conditions at the level of service expected and that expectations of availability will need to change.