Breaking News

Ship the wine, not the glass

Bulk imports of wine - which are then bottled in the UK - are now saving time, money, energy, and waste. >>

Recycling is an Interesting Layby

Limited reduction in plastic bags

The Courtauld Commitment is a partnership between WRAP and 31 major retailers, brand owners, manufacturers and their packaging suppliers, to reduce waste. Unfortunately, despite all the media coverage on plastic bags, the 21 retailers signed up to the Commitment have reported a disappointing 7% reduction in the first year following their agreement to work on the issue.

Beyond Recycling is presented by
Mike Read Associates

Recent News

House of Lords inquiry

The Science and Technology Select Committee of the House of Lords Science has announced and inquiry to look at sustainable approaches to waste reduction.

The inquiry will focus on the first level of the waste hierarchy, waste reduction, and will look into ways in which products and production processes can be made more sustainable and therefore produce less waste. The Committee is now inviting evidence.

Waste reduction the most important environmental issue.

According to a survey conducted for Dow Corning, waste reduction is now considered the single most important environmental issue by companies in the USA, Brazil, Italy, Germany and China.

Key Performance Indicators?

The Local Government White Paper set out a new performance framework for local government. The backbone of the new framework will be around 200 indicators covering all Government's priorities for local delivery. One option considered is the possibility of setting statutory levels for waste not reused, recycled or composted per head.

Going Beyond Recycling - a waste prevention 'network'

Going Beyond Recycling: a Scoping Study for a Waste Prevention 'Network'. Your Views are Important.

Consultation now closed, please check out the Scoping Study report

Waste prevention is a higher priority than recycling in the government's waste strategy and offers a more substantial contribution towards achieving sustainability. Yet until now it has received rather little attention. Although there are already many more-or-less relevant initiatives it appears to be widely felt that something fresh and/or additional is required, and in 2007 Defra decided to support a scoping study, including this consultation exercise, that could lead to a waste prevention 'network'. Waste prevention is fast rising up diverse agendas and this is an opportunity for you to influence how this is reflected in policy and practice.

Waste prevention is taken to include waste avoidance, reduction and reuse and is primarily a 'beginning of pipe, approach as distinct from recycling. As such it needs to be a cross-disciplinary effort, drawing on the expertise of economists, designers, marketers, demographers and planners among many others, and forging links with sustainable consumption and production, and with climate change issues.

The national Beyond Recycling 2006 conference and subsequent events have expressed strong support for a multi-disciplinary UK Municipal and domestic waste prevention 'network'. Indeed there are several reasons why a separate and distinct focus is required for waste prevention:

. The need for waste prevention to emerge from the shadows of recycling, and reach a level commensurate with its importance.

. The expertise and skills required to plan, develop and monitor waste prevention are distinct from and more diverse than for recycling.

. There is evidence that means to achieve behaviour change with regard to waste prevention are likewise different from those for promoting recycling behaviour. For more of the rationale you may wish to check out the conference downloads.

Although referred to here as a 'network' the final name/s and structure/s will be guided by this consultation. It is quite possible that a forum and/or 'think tank' might be part of the final package. The proposed objective is to make a significant and cost-effective contribution to sustainable waste management policy and practice in the UK through facilitating sharing of information, understanding and expertise in waste prevention, between all those with a role to play in its implementation and evaluation. Liaison with industrial and retail sectors may prove mutually beneficial in many aspects, and it is intended that these areas be included insofar as this enables municipal and domestic waste prevention.

This scoping study is being carried out by Mike Read Associates and is expected to continue up to May 2007. All responses will be carefully considered and reflected in the consultation report. Should you wish your input to be unattributed then please let us know and we will of course respect your confidentiality.