The event in London was attended by 63 people all involved with different aspects of waste and recycling. They were seated at 10 tables with Secretary of State Margarett Beckett present as well as Environment Minister Michael Meacher.
The Summit came a day after publication of a government report on resources produced by the Performance and Innovation Unit which is linked to No 10 and the Cabinet Office. The report spoke of the need to make more productive use of resources and was referred to by Mrs Beckett.
At a press conference after the summit, she was at pains to say that the UK is making progress in meeting recycling targets and the waste strategy. However, the Secretary of State confirmed that the Performance and Innovation Unit is to review “the government’s strategy for waste”. A senior civil servant from DEFRA is expected to help pull this together and some of those present felt that in effect it is the Waste Strategy 2000 itself which is under review. And, a first stage report will be completed by January to help the Treasury work out whether it should make any changes to the Landfill Tax from 2004 when the current 1 a year increase comes to an end.
Mrs Beckett said that the event had seen “really useful discussion. Today, we have had quite a range of participants from almost every range of interest that we could have represented. People are really engaged and interested to see us deliver improvements in the way we handle waste. We have made quite some progress from where we were a few years ago, but I think there is a general recognition that we have a long way to go.”
Tackled on whether the UK is getting anywhere near reaching a 25% recycling and composting rate, Mrs Beckett said good progress had been made. “We are on course and have got to stay on course, but there is a lot more to do. I think the general view is that there is still too much landfill in the UK and it is still too easy to dispose of waste in that way and that there isn’t sufficient other stimulus.” She said that during the summit there was a mixture of demands for fiscal and regulatory pressure in order to change this with people arguing that “we have to get this balance right”. And, Mrs Beckett said that she recognised “very much that we have to look at the obstacles to investment in recycling – we have to look at what is a hindrance in local authority terms – and we have to examine all these issues.”
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