Waste minimisation is crucial to the delivery of a green economy, according to recycling minister Lord Taylor.
Addressing the Environmental Industry Commissions (EIC) reception at the House of Lords yesterday (July 3), Lord Taylor highlighted the importance of the green economy and paid credit to the importance of resource efficiency and waste reduction.
He said: Waste minimisation is crucial to the delivery of the green economy, saving money and increasing the environmental benefit.
On this front, the minister pointed to the launch of the voluntary Hospitality and Food Service agreement last week (see letsrecycle.com story) which aims to cut the waste produced by the sector alongside the announcement of a new enhanced waste prevention loan fund (see letsrecycle.com story).
On waste more broadly, he said that the government had put 10 million into the AD loan fund and had just published a progress report on its AD strategy and action plan (see letsrecycle.com story).
He added: We are also planning to consult on restrictions of waste wood to landfill. The aim is to divert this further up the waste hierarchy.
Green economy
The EIC represents the environmental industries in the UK and the minister hailed the importance of the green economy more generally.
He said: Progress in the green economy is essential for a sound economic future for this country. The need for us to work with big business and members of the EIC to achieve this has been noted and must continue to be the case.
The minister emphasised the need for a continued partnership between the government and industry on environmental issues.
With the low carbon technologies market valued at 3.3 trillion worldwide for the financial year 2011/12, he said that environmental and economic ambitions are complimentary, as both parliament and those in industry now acknowledge before pointing to the significance of the recent United Nations summit Rio+20 for the future of sustainable growth.
Lord Taylor went on to say: For the UK the opportunities both here and globally and benefits of going green are extensive. We can create jobs, open up new market opportunities, save money and make the economy more resilient.”
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Solutions
Central to the ministers speech was an account of the ways in which the government is providing targeted solutions for meaningful change such as the creation of the 3 billion green investment bank and plans to improve environmental regulation under the Red Tape Challenge.
He concluded by asserting that while Defra was moving on a number of fronts to stimulate the UK green economy, but that the government could not solve the problem alone. He said: Green economy cant happen just because central government wants to do it, looking to industry leaders to work together to make that transition happen.
Also speaking at the event were EIC Honorary President Lord Haskel, EIC Chairman Adrian Wilkes and Mike Galey, Chair of the EIC Transport Pollution Control Working Group.
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