In the document, simply entitled 'Manifesto 2010', the party said that the move to a 'zero waste' society would also involve it taking action to reduce packaging and require “better” design and product durability to reduce waste.
Describing climate change as “the greatest challenge facing this generation”, the Liberal Democrats said that they were “unwavering” in their commitment to stop runaway climate change.
“We will set a target for a zero-carbon Britain that doesn't contribute at all to global warming – making the British economy carbon-neutral overall by 2050, reducing carbon emissions in the UK by over 40% of 1990 levels by 2020 as a step on the way,” the manifesto explains.
“Our response to climate change will give the British people more secure energy supplies, reduce air pollution and related health costs – and create thousands of new jobs,” it adds.
Green
The party also ties in its waste policies with the aim of creating “a green and pleasant land”, claiming: “We're the only party the takes seriously the responsibility of protecting our natural inheritance and ensuring access for all.”
At last year's Liberal Democrat summer conference, the party said that its plans to end waste to landfill would also involve the creation of an independent Resource Efficiency Committee, which would advise the government on recycling and waste issues (see letsrecycle.com story).
In today's manifesto, the party says setting targets for zero waste “means less packaging, more recycling, and a huge increase in anaerobic digestion to generate energy from food and farm waste.
“Will also improve resource efficiency and reduce waste through requiring better design and durability product standards and reducing excess packaging,” it adds.
Infrastructure Bank
Echoing a commitment made by both Labour (see letsrecycle.com story) and the Conservatives (see letsrecycle.com story) in their manifestos earlier this week the Liberal Democrats plan to establish a new bank to help drive major infrastructure such as renewable energy projects.
In their manifesto, they say: “To sustain jobs and growth for the long term, we will set up an Infrastructure Bank to direct private finance to essential projects such as new rail services and green energy, building the environmentally sustainable economy that is needed for the long term.”
And, like the Conservatives, they advocate the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission formally established by the government earlier this year to make decisions on major infrastructure planning applications such as large-scale energy-from-waste plants.
Instead, the Liberal Democrats say they want to “return decision making, including housing targets, to local people. We will create a third-party right of appeal in cases where planning decisions go against locally agreed plans”.
Scrappage
Elsewhere, the manifesto also proposes the introduction of a scrappage scheme – as already seen for cars and boilers – for buses, costing £140 million, in a move which could increase the quantity of recovered metal passing through scrap yards.
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