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Select Committee call for higher recycling rates
19 January 2010
Commenting on a report launched by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee on Defra's Waste Strategy today, Friends of the Earth's resource use campaigner Julian Kirby said:
"The Committee is right to call for higher recycling rates from households and businesses but we must be more ambitious - the Belgian region of Flanders is already recycling over 70 per cent of its waste.
"Friends of the Earth's research shows the UK is throwing away over £650 million each year by dumping and incinerating waste. Recycling it instead could save 19 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually - the same as taking six million cars off the roads.
"The Government should ban the landfill and incineration of recyclable material, stop funding wasteful incineration schemes and provide support instead to expanding recycling and food waste collections.
"This, alongside tougher recycling targets for household and business waste, will help slash carbon emissions and allow the UK reap the financial benefits of making better use of precious natural resources."
Notes to editors
1. Friends of the Earth's recent report "Gone to waste: the valuable resources that European countries bury and burn" is available to download at www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/gone_to_waste.pdf.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jan 2010
