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.

Here at Beyond Recycling we're beginning to research what is known of the climate change benefits of waste prevention. In preventing waste you don't just avoid the greenhouse gas emissions associated with waste disposal but you avoid all the emissions associated with extraction, manufacturing and transport too. While more work is required to calculate the benefits associated with waste prevention for all manner of materials and products the indications are that benefits will far outweigh those associated with recycling. While we develop this area of our work, if you know of any studies that have considered these benefits please contact us.

Waste prevention, climate change and local authorities

The Waste Strategy 2007 for England indicated that in the longer term, the Government is considering developing a greenhouse gas emissions performance indicator for local authority performance on waste. This would reflect total greenhouse gas emissions from a local authority's waste management activity. A research project due to start in 2008 will aim to develop a methodology for a local authority waste performance greenhouse gas emissions indicator. Waste prevention may well offer local authorities a highly cost-effective means to reach such a target.

Waste Prevention and Climate Change