Waste sector more important by the day, says Benn

Speaking this morning (June 9) at the CIWM/ESA Futuresource exhibition and conference at London's ExCeL, Mr Benn said that eliminating waste would be a “huge step” towards promoting sustainability.

“I'm delighted to be here this morning because the work you do becomes more important with every passing day,” Mr Benn said, telling the event that the UK was facing a “crisis of sustainability”.

“I hope that, in 100 years, people will be shocked by the amount of waste we make,” he added.

As well as unveiling Defra's new 10-year packaging strategy (see letsrecycle.com story) as a means of reducing waste, Mr Benn also commented on the issue of food labelling, with new research showing that 370,000 tonnes-a-year of food is thrown away due to consumer confusion over the issue.

Linking it to yesterday's announcement of £10 million funding being allocated to five anaerobic digestion plants (see letsrecycle.com story), he said: “We plan to tackle the way those labels are used, making it absolutely clear what's good and what's not, and as far as food is thrown away it should be turned into energy.” 

Describing food waste as “a huge untapped resource”, he also pointed to the double ROCs and feed-in tariffs available for AD as proof of the government's commitment to the technology.

Landfill bans 

Praising Landfill Tax as being “principally responsible” for the success achieved so far in diverting waste from landfill, Mr Benn raised the possibility of material specific landfill bans, explaining that “we need to look at banning some materials from landfill altogether”

“Take food; take wood; take glass; take aluminium – why would you put any of them into landfill?” he asked, citing recycling cans as an example where value could be recovered and raw materials saved.

And, addressing the issue of infrastructure, he explained that “action on landfill needs to go hand in hand with action on waste infrastructure”, and pointed towards the government's support for PFI deals as proof of it looking to ensure projects get off the ground.