16th October 2013
Earlier this week the Environment Agency issued a report on waste crime (‘Cracking Down on Waste Crime. Waste Crime Report 2012-2013‘). The report acknowledged that while there has been an increase in the crackdown on illegal waste management activity, crime is a significant issue in our sector. It is difficult to appreciate the localised impact of that crime, in the
10th October 2013
Talking to Radio 4’s ‘Costing the Earth’ programme about landfill mining and the resources that have been embedded in landfill sites over the last 50 years, followed by a meeting where we contemplated the future of the waste sector in a sustainable resource economy, has given me an opportunity to reflect. Looking back and understanding what we as a society
23rd September 2013
It’s that time of year when thousands of young people are leaving home and finding their feet at university. When it comes to environmental issues, students can sometimes get a bad press. If I’m honest, I think I spent more time worrying about how many friends I’d made rather than how or where I could recycle my cans. And it’s
17th September 2013
According to performance data collected by Letsrecycle.com (30 August 2013), Rochford District Council should anticipate top position in the English household waste recycling league for 2012/13 – a contract operated by SITA UK. The Council is expected to achieve a recycling and composting rate of 66.78 per cent, down from 67.4 per cent in 2011/12. Despite complaints from some quarters
6th September 2013
True to form, Defra has followed up a disappointing consultation on a waste management plan for England with an equally disappointing consultation document on a waste prevention programme for England. As with the former, the abiding impression is that of another tick-box exercise intended to meet the UK’s obligations under Article 29 of the European Union Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC.
4th September 2013
Of the materials that we discard in our bins every week, two in particular are of concern – food and glass. When landfilled, food waste decomposes to release greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. Defra’s delivery arm, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), runs programmes to reduce food waste (the Love Food Hate Waste campaign) and to divert
12th August 2013
Policymakers have been enthusing over the idea of a “leasing society” as one means of achieving a closed-loop economy. Consumers pay for a service as opposed to buying the product, the ownership of which remains with the manufacturer. The theory is that manufacturers would build better products if they retained responsibility for performance, consumers would benefit financially, and the environment
6th August 2013
Scotland is gearing up for the implementation of the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 with a strong communications and awareness-raising drive. From 1 January 2014, local authorities and businesses will be required to comply with new legal duties relating to the separate collection of dry recyclables and of food waste, and further treatment of residual waste before it is sent for
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,
