30th November 2018
Posted by Dr Adam Read. Aldersgate Group organised a report launch event on Thursday, 29th November 2018 entitled ‘What does business want from the Environment Bill?’ I was delighted to present at the launch, where representatives from a number of environmental disciplines came together, with Defra and other government departments to discuss what industry needs from the forthcoming Environment Bill.
17th December 2014
With all the debate going on around the EU position on the circular economy at present, emotion can sometimes cloud our view, so it can be useful to stand back and consider the underlying reasons behind the various opposing opinions. While many in our sector are more than a little disappointed by the European Commission’s view, I can at least
17th December 2014
Yesterday (16 December 2014), the European Commission withdrew the so-called “circular economy package”, developed by the previous Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, amid cries of “shame” from MEPs assembled in the European Parliament. The package was withdrawn for two reasons: the “principle of political discontinuity”, a notion that, judging from the reaction of many MEPs during the parliamentary debate, evidently puzzled
18th November 2014
The new term of the European Commission has commenced with a Commission Work Programme (CWP) proposed by President Jean-Claude Juncker and First Vice President Franz Timmermans. As many waste-watchers suspected from President Juncker’s cool reception earlier, the Circular Economy Package introduced by outgoing Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik has not received an unqualified green light in the draft CWP. The so-called
3rd November 2014
The Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Inquiry Growing a Circular Economy: Ending the Throwaway Society contains the now-familiar mixture of mild ambition and platitudes that characterised its evidence before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s Inquiry Waste Management in England. There, the Government was taken to task for ‘stepping back’ precisely at a time when vision, a
3rd December 2013
The waste-to-resource sector is one of the most active, rapidly growing and capital-intensive sectors in the UK at this time. Our sector has a value in excess of £12 billion and directly employs well over 100,000 people. It reportedly grew at a rate of 3.1 per cent this year and is expected to grow by more than four per cent next
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.
12th October 2011
I was pleased to attend last week the launch of a new report by Green Alliance, the environmental think tank, entitled ‘Reinventing the wheel: a circular economy for resource security’. By sponsoring the creation of this thoughtful and timely report SITA UK helps lift the issues surrounding how we can best facilitate an improvement in resource efficiency.
