Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence


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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