Author information: Matthew Thomson has been chief executive of London CRN for just over a year, bringing over ten years community and social enterprise experience to the re-use, composting and recycling sector. The London network comprises over 200 organisations working in the green economy, public service delivery, regeneration and community engagement. Last year research found that local authorities were sending around 30,000 items to landfill daily – around 500,000 tonnes a year of resource wasted and taking up valuable landfill space. (see letsrecycle.com story )
Around 30 of the more enlightened English authorities have already started, or are considering issuing, reuse credits, and as the cost of landfill rises, this becomes ever more interesting for disposal bodies.
Many, such as Warwickshire, have long championed community involvement in reuse, supporting charity shops at their CA sites.
The North London Waste Authority have for the last year been paying over £53 per tonne to a range of companies in their area for diverting waste through reuse. Most of these are charities and social enterprises. The NLWA is to be congratulated for its approach to re-use and recycling credits, handling uncertainty well and taking a learning approach to their relationships with new social partners.
This month they registered the Freecycle network to receive recycling credits, taking this payment mechanism into new terrain in terms of supporting grassroots reuse activity. The Authority's careful monitoring of their scheme will serve us all well in marshalling the evidence of the value of reuse, and justifying its place above recycling in the waste hierarchy.
Reuse is a hot topic in London, with the GLA, Government Office for London, North London Waste Authority and London Councils jointly commissioning a study into reuse capacity and potential in the capital, due to be published soon after the mayoral elections.
With the mayor's office championing the proximity principal and committed to slashing the amount of waste leaving the capital; and the new London Waste and Recycling Board spending £60 million to reduce waste and increase reuse and recycling in the capital in the next three years, this should be the moment when we all pull together to build a viable decentralized reuse infrastructure serving the whole city.
ACR+ have calculated that reuse could save 57kg of CO2 a year per person and if you re-use nappies (and my 5 month old does!) you can add in another 19kg on top of that.
So come on now and big up the unsung second of the 3 Rs – come on local authorities, it's time to make your money go round!
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