23rd July 2013
For a government that aspires to be the ‘greenest ever’, the recent unveiling of two documents – the Defra/BIS-supported circular economy taskforce report ‘Resource Resilient UK’ and Defra’s consultation on its ‘Waste Management Plan for England’ – has gone almost unnoticed. No fanfare, no trumpeting of the Government’s green credentials or of new initiatives to support green growth.
15th July 2013
In October 2012, SITA UK launched a report ‘Creating Social Value – the Role of the Waste and Resource Management Industry’. The report highlights the broader social benefits that the waste and resource management industry, in partnership with the third sector, could offer local authorities alongside the delivery of waste management services. The legal framework for procurement of these services,
25th June 2013
The Local Government Association’s report Wealth from Waste has been received positively by commentators in both the public and private sectors, an indication that we could be approaching convergence on the outlines of a strategy to power the circular economy. Broadly, they involve introducing “push” levers to get more waste out of landfill (though the Local Government Association’s report is somewhat
21st May 2013
It’s not difficult to make the case to reduce, reuse and recycle waste – a point made by the Labour Party in the Resource Security* Policy Review, released on Friday 19 April 2013. It’s also not difficult to understand that recovering the maximum amount of energy from the waste left over is an obvious thing to do. However, neither point
30th April 2013
The Welsh Government has opened a consultation on proposed changes to its national planning policy for the management of waste. The three Welsh Regional Waste Plans have been around for less than 10 years, with the latest revisions dating from as recently as 2008, and serious infrastructure is already being tendered against these Plans. In view of this, the claim
17th April 2013
The recent press articles1 on the storage of refuse derived fuel (RDF) bales (or other processed waste) in Essex and other locations means that this issue is gaining profile. Good. The compliant production of refuse derived fuel and solid recovered fuel (SRF) fuels from residual waste has allowed more customers to achieve lower / zero waste to landfill solutions earlier
9th April 2013
The latest addition to the growing literature on the circular economy (Closing the loop: risk or reward?) offers a timely reminder that the waste management industry needs to respond to the fast-changing business environment in which it operates, if it is to retain its relevance. Thus far, the report suggests the industry has not fully grasped the seismic shift within
5th April 2013
With the announcement in the Chancellor’s Spring budget that the landfill tax escalator will remain unchanged at £8 per year, landfill tax will reach the Government’s ceiling of £80 per tonne of waste in 2014/15. No surprise here, though the lack of an announcement on the future level of the tax after 2014/15 comes as a disappointment. The Local Government
12th March 2013
Listening to the recent panel response on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions, elicited a ray of hope that the public discussion surrounding energy-from-waste is becoming more sophisticated. The question was asked as to whether the proposed waste incinerator at Javelin Park in Gloucestershire was “a blot on the landscape or a necessary step towards an ecologically sustainable environment”. The panel
1st March 2013
The announcement that exports from the UK of refuse derived fuel (RDF) – fuel made from residual municipal and commercial waste – rose sharply in 2012 to 892,000 tonnes is no surprise to the waste management industry. For almost two decades the sector has fought for recognition by policymakers of the huge contribution energy-from-waste (EfW) can make towards meeting the
