Archived press release

response to uk national waste strategy

31 January 1995

In response to today's Government announcement on the long- overdue national waste management strategy [1], Friends of the Earth reminded the Government of key recommendations by groups from all sectors. Environmentalists, industry, scientific experts and the public are calling for waste minimisation backed up by legally enforceable targets and more recycling.

Friends of the Earth remains concerned that the dash to burn waste, highlighted by the rash of applications up and down the country for new municipal waste incinerators, will remove any incentive for waste minimisation and recycling. In particular, local authority waste disposal companies risk committing themselves to long term contracts, condemning them to supply minimum quantities of waste to these incinerators for many years to come.

Guy Linley-Adams, Industry and Pollution Campaigner said:

"If the Government does not come up with legally enforceable waste minimisation targets, it will be failing industry, the public and the environment.

Incinerators are hungry animals: build them and they require feeding with vast quantities of waste, waste we ought not be producing or should be recycling much more effectively."

WASTE MINIMISATION AND RECYCLING - SUPPORT FROM ALL SIDES

The Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment, Waste Management and Minimisation Working Group (a grouping of key business interests) [2] said:

"The Group has concluded that there is clear evidence that waste minimisation is cost effective and offers significant environmental benefits.....The Group believes that a carrot-and- stick approach will probably be needed if a higher take up of Total Process Efficiency (TPE) is to be achieved."[2b]

CONTACT: GUY LINLEY-ADAMS, INDUSTRY AND POLLUTION CAMPAIGNER 071-566-1685 OR ADAM GARFUNKEL, WASTE CAMPAIGNER 071-566-1686 OR NEIL VERLANDER, INFORMATION OFFICER, 071-566-1649

PAGE 2 FRIENDS OF THE EARTH The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution [3] said:

"The Commission's general approach can be presented as a four stage procedure: * wherever possible, avoid creating waste * where waste are unavoidable, recycle them if possible * where wastes cannot be recycled in the form of materials, recover energy from them * when the foregoing options have been exhausted, utilise the best practicable environmental option to dispose of waste".

The Public:

The Government's own recent public opinion survey showed that 71% of people who thought a lot could be done said responsibility for the fact there is "not enough recycling" sat with national and local government. 88% of all people wanted Government to provide "more recycling facilities" [4].

A Friends of the Earth briefing on FoE's opposition to any new municipal incineration capacity is attached to this press release or available from Friends of the Earth on 071-566-1685.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS: [1] Government announcement (31st January 1995) made in response to a Parliamentary Question in the Commons by Mr David Amess MP for Basildon. [2] Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment 4th Report October 1994 [2b] ACBE stated that it prefers to use the 'more positive name', total process efficiency (TPE) to refer to waste minimisation. [3] RCEP (1993) 17th Report on Incineration [4] DoE Digest of Environmental Protection and Water Statistics No 16 1994.

CONTACT: GUY LINLEY-ADAMS, INDUSTRY AND POLLUTION CAMPAIGNER 071-566-1685 OR ADAM GARFUNKEL, WASTE CAMPAIGNER 071-566-1686 OR NEIL VERLANDER, INFORMATION OFFICER, 071-566-1649

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust