Government announce waste policy review

The Government is to carry out a full review of waste policy in England, looking at the most effective ways of reducing waste.

Announcing the review at the Futuresource conference today, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:

“There is an economic and environmental urgency to developing the right waste strategy.

“We have been slowly moving in the right direction with recycling rates. The direction of travel is right – it’s the pace that’s the problem. We need to go faster and we need to go further.”

The review will include:
• the effect of waste policies on local communities and individual households, and how local authorities can best work with people to make the best decisions;

• maximising the contribution of the waste and recycling industries to the UK economically and environmentally;

• how we work towards the “zero waste economy”, and drastically reduce the amount of waste created and valuable resources sent to landfill, looking at the entire process from source to end of life; and

• new approaches to dealing with commercial waste and promoting ‘responsibility deals’, reducing the amount of waste generated by production and retail.

Caroline Spelman continued:“We need a new approach to waste – one which works for the new economy. We cannot keep putting recyclable and biodegradable material into landfill. It threatens the environment and wastes what are incredibly valuable natural resources."