Waste Review must commit to halve residual waste

The government could fail to meet its ambition of a zero waste economy unless it sets a target in the Waste Review to halve the amount of residual waste generated by 2020, according to Friends of the Earth.

In the lead up to next weeks expected publication of the Review of Englands waste policy, the campaign group claimed that speculation was growing that the review would be lacking in both ambition and detail.

And, it warned that, unless action was taken to increase recycling rates and reduce residual waste through prevention, the Review could even reverse some of the progress taken in these areas under the previous Labour administration.

Julian Kirby, Friends of the Earths (FoE) waste campaigner, said: “This review is a golden opportunity to slash waste and boost recycling but fears are growing that Government policies will reverse much of the progress made in the past 10 years.

“Households and businesses across the country want to cut down on the rubbish they throw out – Ministers must help by committing the UK to halving the black bag waste sent for disposal by 2020.

Mr Kirby claimed that moving to a low-waste economy would create thousands of new jobs, help to fight climate change and also save money for cash-strapped councils and households.

Among the reasons given by FoE for setting a goal of halving residual waste generation by 2020 is the increasing cost of sending waste to landfill due to rising landfill tax. The group also claimed incineration is costly and controversial.

And, it said the amount of residual waste generated was extremely wasteful, claiming an estimated 650 million of recyclable material is sent to landfill or incineration each year, while 10 billion of food is wasted.

Commitments

The group called for a wide range of commitments to be made in the review, including:
The widespread introduction of weekly food waste collections;
Incineration of our waste to be phased out, and a ban on the burning and landfilling of recyclables;
Much more effort – at local, UK and EU level – to prevent waste through improved product design and producer responsibility;
Support for business waste collection schemes, including a requirement on waste companies to offer cost effective recycling services;
High quality recycling collection and processing, with a preference for kerbside separation of waste.

But, outlining its fears that the Review would be light on policy, FoE said: There is also growing speculation that the Waste Review will simply be a series of case studies, with little if anything in the way of numerical targets or proposed regulations.

Waste strategy is also hampered by the government’s ideological reluctance to impose mandatory measures, such as requiring councils or businesses to act on waste.