UK plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by waste recycling

The UK government has set out plans to sort more waste, save resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Benn visited Bywaters Materials Recovery facility in Bow, where a mixture of co-mingled and separate material is processed.

The joint Defra and Welsh Assembly Government publication 'Consultation on the Introduction of Restrictions on the Landfilling of Certain Wastes' considers restricting sending paper and card, food, textiles, metals, wood, garden waste, glass, plastics, and electrical and electronic equipment to landfill.

Preventing waste from going directly to landfill can open up new markets for recycled products and recovered materials - a tonne of aluminium cans is currently worth £819-850 and 100,000 tonnes of aluminium packaging are currently landfilled each year. It can also create new jobs as the waste sector gets bigger over time.

In addition, the government intends to produce a new energy from waste policy towards the end of 2010. The government is considering how to get good quality materials out of the waste stream into a form that industry can use to make new products, for which it is consulting with local authorities and businesses in sorting local waste and on the principle of restricting materials from landfill.

The consultation seeks views on different options to restrict these wastes sent to landfill including: doing nothing and relying on current measures such as landfill tax to continue to reduce the landfill amount; introducing bans on landfilling on their own or accompanied by a requirement for waste to be sorted; introducing a sorting or tougher pre-treatment requirement without a landfill ban; and introducing producer responsibility requirements for certain wastes.

The government has also launched a consultation on how UK meets the EU Landfill Directive targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill, and a strategy for hazardous waste management in England, which will help drive hazardous waste away from landfill, and promote prevention, recycling and recovery.