Archived press release

Recycling means jobs

2 November 1998

Britain could make a major dent in rising unemployment by better recycling of waste, a new report from environment groups Friends of the Earth and Community Recycling Network argues today.Thousands of new jobs could be created if we raised the UK's recycling rate from its current 7.5%,a level described by Environment Minister Michael Meacher as "frankly pathetic". Other places recycle ten times as much. 14,000 new jobs could be created by recycling in London alone over the next decade.

FOE's report, "Recycling Works", is published as the Government considers its new waste strategy.Press reports have suggested that there may be a new tax on household waste to give a clear incentive for recycling. The FOE report sets out a series of successful recycling case studies, and gives details of policies needed to help the UK win the environmental, economic and employment benefits of increased recycling.

Case studies include:
.Haringey, London, UK, where electric-powered carts are used along the pavement for collection for recycling. These result in less traffic blockage, less pollution and less danger to the workers than traditional collecting lorries.
.In Liverpool the Create Project employs people who have been long-term out-of-work to refurbish old electrical equipment. They are salaried, but work towards an NVQ in engineering assembly, and many former trainees have found permanent employment elsewhere.
Other UK case studies in the report are from Bath; Newark and Sherwood, Nottinghamshire; St Edmundsbury, Suffolk; and Recycle-IT!, Luton;

International case studies include:
. Quinte, Ontario, Canada - where over a seven-year period, starting in 1989, recycling and composting reduced household waste by over two thirds. Over this period the total cost of waste management and recycling actually dropped by 39 per cent.

Dr Anna Thomas, Friends of the Earth recycling campaigner, commented:
"Our report shows just how feeble the UK's recycling record is. It also shows how recycling can benefit the economy as well as the environment. We are not just wasting scarce resources as a country, we are also wasting the chance to create thousands of much needed jobs. The Government's waste strategy must be radical enough to turn this sorry tale of waste and neglect around."

NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] Recycling Works - Employment, economic and environmental benefits from improved resource use,Friends of the Earth and Community Recycling Network. Funded by landfill tax credits from UK Waste and a contribution from Friends of the Earth.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust