NEWS LEGISLATION ■ INDUSTRY ISSUES ■ EVENTS
National deposit refund scheme could cut cost of litter by up to £160M
A national drinks container deposit refund scheme would help the Government achieve a zero waste economy by increasing recy- cling rates and reducing litter, according to new research from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
The study found that a drinks container deposit refund scheme (covering glass bottles, plastic bot- tles and cans) would cost little to set up, and would generate rev- enue to support most of its own running costs. Critically, at a time of public spending restraint, the report also highlighted how the scheme would reduce costs to the public sector by £160M per year. The report Have we got the bot- tle? Implementing a deposit refund scheme in the UK was undertaken by Eunomia Research & Consulting. It suggested that a deposit of 15p for containers small- er than 500ml and 30p for those larger would generate return rates of around 90%. Bill Bryson, CPRE President, said: “These findings throw rat- ional and informed light on an
Inside brief
A consortium of SITA UK, Royal Bank of Scotland and Catalyst Lend Lease, has won a PFI tender from the South Tyne & Wear Waste Manage- ment Partnership to build and operate an energy-from- waste facility that will treat 190,000tpa of waste.
Viridor has submitted a planning application to extend operations at its Horton landfill site near Henley, West Sussex, so that waste can continue to be disposed there up to August 2011.
Discarded drinks bottles cost a fortune to clean up every year
issue that is nonsensically con- tentious in the UK. What sensi- ble nation would not want to cap- ture and recycle its precious and finite resources?”
Samantha Harding, CPRE ‘stop the drop’ campaign manager, added: “The UK has a serious litter prob- lem and the year on year increase in the cost of clearing it up has become unsustainable. We need to look at new ways of tackling litter and changing behaviours.
“A deposit refund scheme sup-
ports anti-litter messages with financial incentives. The principle behind this idea is that the polluter pays. The small minority of people who drop litter or can’t be both- ered to recycle, will end up footing the bill. “We have modelled a scheme that is easy and convenient to use – and cost effective to deliver for both Government and con- sumers.”
Retailers halve amount of waste sent to landfill
Retailers have halved the amount of waste they send to landfill com- pared with five years ago, accord- ing to a report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Less than a quarter of waste pro- duced by retailers is now sent to landfill compared with almost 50% in 2005. Retailers have also achieved an 18% reduction between 2005 and 2010 in both energy-related emissions from
buildings and CO2 emissions from transporting goods.
But to help retailers go further
with their environmental goals they need the Government to help them, rather than hinder, the report points out. Supermarkets, for example, need colleges to train engineers to provide maintenance expertise and to encourage the develop- ment of low carbon alternatives. The Government must also ensure its localism agenda does not hand too much power to local groups to the detriment of meet- ing national and international environmental targets.
Stephen Robertson, director general at the BRC, said: “These remarkable achievements by retailers show their commitment to tackling climate change has not wavered, despite the tough trading conditions.” He added: “We can’t let ‘nimby- ism’ get in the way. A national approach is the best way to help retailers achieve environmental objectives at a local level. The BRC on-pack recycling label, which is increasing local authority recycling rates, is a good example.”
Environment Minister Jane Davidson has appointed Peter Davies as the first inde- pendent chair to the Climate Change Commission for Wales. Davies is the current chair of the Sustainable Development Commission for Wales, and will take up his new position this month.
A website that allows users to compare the waste mar- ket has been launched by Waste-a-base. The service,
www.waste-a-base.com, allows waste producers and receivers to trade directly and agree a fair market price for waste disposal or recovery operations.
Smurfit Kappa has become the first UK packaging manu- facturer to be awarded ISO 14001 certification for its multi-site environment man- agement system. A rolling programme of ISO 14001 certification began in March with ten of Smurfit Kappa’s 24 UK production facilities.
October 2010 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 5
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