Memorandum submitted by Hampshire County
Council (X23)
1. In broad terms Hampshire County Council
supports with the Government's actions to date, and strongly supports
the strategy work on sustainable consumption and production; where
the need for decoupling of economic growth from environmental
degradation has been recognized. However, the County Council would
suggest that the debate needs to be refocused on the most efficient
use of all material resources, not just municipal waste as covered
by the Landfill Directive.
2. In particular, the County Council supports
the fact that Government has recognized that long term progress
in sustainable waste policy will require refocused thinking, in
which the issue becomes one about good management of resources—so
that we increase national resource productivity and manage waste
in a way that underpins our goals for sustainable development
and a cleaner environment.
3. With this in mind Hampshire County Council
would wish to re-iterate the requirement for integrated strategic
planning across all material streams in order to achieve long
term sustainable resource management.
4. Whilst the targets for the Landfill Directive
(1999/31/EC) apply to Biodegradeable Municipal Waste, the discussion
paper "Waste to Resource Management"[64]
states that "A `smart' resource management approach integrates
the processing of household, commercial and industrial wastes
to the benefit of both the council taxpayers and of commerce and
industry".
5. Consequently, national change management
effort must not be confined simply to the municipal/household
waste streams, even though this is the area of concentration for
current legislation.
6. In addition, the shift towards producer
responsibility, to reduce the requirement for final waste disposal,
is an area of significant societal change. The integration of
resource management, economic development and societal change
needs a "top-down and bottom-up" approach. There is
a need for co-ordinate action at national, regional and local
levels. However, the potential for Local Authorities to play a
leadership role in this change management agenda should be assisted
by the cascade of national policy. Local Authorities are well
placed to provide local linkages on this agenda.
7. The current method of national policy,
whereby finite legislation is enacted to satisfy the requirements
of specific EC directives, could lead to fragmentation of effort,
conflict of approach and non-integration of strategy. A combined,
integrated approach must be followed in order to achieve consistent
and inclusive sustainable resource management, and move away from
the complexity of origin-based waste legislation. This would align
UK policy with the EU Thematic Resource Strategy.
8. Hampshire County Council, in partnership
with Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council, are
progressing well with the development of a Material Resources
Strategy. This not only aims to link material resources with minerals
planning but also attempts to address the need to move from "end
of pipe" recycling-type solutions, to addressing the need
for societal change relating to consumption and the most efficient
use of resources for goods and services from their design to disposal[65].
9. Longer term partnerships with the private
sector, facilitated by linkages to the CBI and DTI, are suggested
as the most effective method to provide both the funding and market
development opportunities for resource management.
13 October 2004
64 Lisney, BE, Riley, K and Banks, C, 2003. From Waste
to Resource Management: A Discussion Paper. Hampshire Printing
Services (for hard copies please contact Adrian Flavell 01962
845289). www.hnri.co.uk Back
65
www.mrs-hampshire.org.uk Back
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