Submission to the Governments Strategy Unit review of UK waste policy
Publication date: July 2002
Summary
The UK Government knows its current waste policy is not working and not popular. It has set up an investigation into whether the reliance on incineration should be abandoned. Greenpeace has attended the seminars held by the Strategy Unit and submitted the following document:
Greenpeace believes that the Government's "Waste Strategy 2000" is not achieving its desired outcome either in terms of quality ("more sustainable waste management") or quantity (maximising the amount of waste recycled and reducing the quantity of waste produced).
Although mandatory recycling targets are beginning to encourage better collection methods and increased recycling of some materials in some areas, the strategy as it stands is unlikely to achieve more than very moderate gains.
This is because of clear policy shortcomings, particularly a lack of incentives for local authorities to avoid waste disposal altogether, incentives for some forms of disposal (particularly incineration under the guise of "energy recovery") and extreme ambiguity from the Government regarding best practice.
