Archived press release

Government's New Waste Strategy is Rubbish

29 June 1999

ADVANCE NOTICE - TUESDAY 29th JUNE 1999
GOVERNMENT'S NEW WASTE POLICY IS “RUBBISH” Recycling dumped in favour of incineration
The Government's long-awaited waste strategy - to be launched by Michael Meacher at 12 noon on Wednesday at the DETR - is likely to back incineration and landfill for the majority of the UK's household waste, Friends of the Earth predicted today. This will leave the UK near the bottom of international recycling league tables (see attached). The Government has just launched a £7 million advertising campaign telling people to “do their bit” by recycling and carrying out other green actions. Unfortunately the Government doesn't appear to be following its own advice.

Friends of the Earth has been told that the strategy has been dogged by disputes between Government departments. The Department of the Environment has lost a long battle with the Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry for more ambitious recycling proposals. The Treasury and the DTI are both very keen on incineration whilst Environment Minister, Michael Meacher, has said of incineration “I can think of hardly anything the public is more concerned to avoid”.

FOE is calling for a household waste recycling target of 50% by 2010. The Netherlands is expecting to recycle 75% of all its waste by the same date. The European Commission are also proposing that 75% of packaging is recycled by 2006. Research has shown that recycling 50% of newspapers and magazines would create 10,000 jobs and reduce UK imports by £175 million. The UK currently recycles around 7% of household waste. Lack of funding has been the major blockage to the UK developing a successful recycling programme, with virtually none of the £500 million raised annually by the landfill tax going to support practical recycling programmes.

Mike Childs, Senior Waste Campaigner, at Friends of the Earth said:

“The Government's performance on recycling is pathetic and frankly it's ambitions are not much better. The DTI and Treasury seem intent on blocking virtually every green initiative from the DETR. It looks like the UK will remain near the bottom of the heap for recycling. Communities across the country will rightfully be alarmed by the number of incinerators and landfills this Government wants to build in coming years. Yet again this country will squander the opportunity of building green industries and creating thousands of green jobs.”

Netherlands 45
Switzerland 42
USA 31
Finland 30
Canada 29
Denmark 25
Germany 18
UK 7

Source: ETSU, An introduction to household Waste Management, 1998; Biocycle Magazine, 1999; and, The Environment Agency and LPAC, Re-inventing Waste, 1998.

Packaging recycling rates in Europe by 2001 (per cent)

Country Recycling rate

Belgium 62
Netherlands 51
France 50
Austria 48
Denmark 41
Italy 32
UK 26

Source: European Commission, June 1999

Glass packaging recycling rates in Europe (per cent)

Country Recycling rate

Germany 83
Netherlands 82
Austria 78
Sweden 76
Belgium 75
Denmark 70
UK 27

Source: European Commission, June 1999

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust