And, the member of parliament for Huddersfield added that he would like to see more engagement with the electorate on agendas such as the circular economy and climate change.
Mr Sheerman was speaking as chair at the launch of the ‘Environment: priorities for the next government’ report – which has been compiled by the Society for Environment (SocEnv) in conjunction with Carbon Connect, the All Party Sustainable Resource Group (APSRG) and the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum.
Policies
The document lays out a list of policy recommendations for the next government, in areas as diverse as climate change, the UK’s natural capital, energy and the future of the waste and resource industry.
Working alongside the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), SocEnv states that the next government should;
- Establish an Office for Resource Management;
- Expand the market for reused and recycled products
- Stimulate private investment in new waste treatment, recycling and reprocessing facilities;
- Reduce tax evasion by ensuring enforcement bodies are resourced to tackle waste crime.
The report also highlighted the need for government to adopt remanufacturing, and endorsed unilateral CIWM policy recommendations to press for a new circular economy package and help Defra address England’s flatlining recycling rates.
Speaking at a panel session as part of the launch, Mr Sheerman said: “We are only a few weeks before a general election and I wish I could say that the political parties were participating in this in a way I would like to see them. I don’t know what is the matter at the moment but in some ways we are not pulling the right levers.
“We have got to reach the imagination of our electorate and we are not putting enough pressure on political parties. Social media is a way we could lift the whole campaign up.”
Producers
Also speaking at the event, Peter Jones OBE added he would like to see more economic integration in manufacturing. He said: “We need to talk a lot more about producer responsibility and how supply chains can transfer the cost from government.”
But commenting from the floor, David Workman director general of the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), announced there was “too much talk” among the panel on areas unrelated to consumption. Mr Workman remarked he had seen his industry “almost entirely been destroyed” by recent developments on the market.
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