Memorandum submitted by the Waste and
Resources Action Programme (WRAP) (X27)
INTRODUCTION
1. WRAP welcomes the opportunity to submit
evidence to this inquiry, which follows on from the Committee's
previous inquiry in 2002-03 The Future of Waste Management.
2. WRAP was created as a result of actions
to boost recycling and market development in the Government's
Waste Strategy 2000 for England and Wales. [66]This
strategy document and subsequent policy initiatives remain the
primary strategic response in England to the demands of the EU
Landfill Directive. In Wales, this document was superseded in
2002 by the publication of Wise about Waste,[67]
the Welsh Assembly Government's own waste strategy, alongside
strategic waste plans for Scotland and Northern Ireland[68]which
were also developed separately from that developed for England.
3. WRAP's mission is to accelerate resource
efficiency through the creation of stable and efficient markets
for recycled materials and products, and by removing barriers
to waste minimisation, re-use and recycling.
4. We work across the United Kingdom, and
are funded by Defra (through core funding, and through the Waste
Implementation Programme), DTI and the Devolved Administrations.
Our programmes today spread across market development, household
waste minimisation, communications, and support for local authoritiessome
of which are delivered across the United Kingdom with others primarily
applicable to England with varied contributions from the Devolved
Administrations depending on their interest in the particular
programme. Earlier this year, we published our second Business
Plan,[69]
setting out our objectives and targets for 2004-06 and describing
our work in greater detail than space permits in this submission.
PROGRESS ON
RECYCLING AND
COMPOSTING ACROSS
THE UK
5. WRAP believes that the United Kingdom
is now making substantive and rapid progress towards the challenging
recycling and composting targets we have set for ourselves, as
part of our strategy for compliance with the Landfill Directive.
In 2002-03 for England, local authorities recycled and composted
15.6% of municipal waste.[70]
In our view, they are likely to exceed the 17% target set for
2003-04 and, although the higher 25% target is still challenging
within the time available, local authorities do have a fair chance
of meeting the 25% target set for 2004-05. Momentum is being gained
rapidly by many local authorities, especially since further investment
in new collection systems (funded locally as well as by Defra)
have been introduced in many areas, combined with further investment
in promotional activities and waste reducing activities such as
home composting. This is making it easier for more people to recycle
conveniently at home, with at least 65% of the UK population now
having some form of kerbside collection scheme available to themeven
if it is just for newspapers and magazines at this stage. Landfilling
of municipal waste reduced in net terms in 2002-03 (by 300,000
tonnes) for the first time in many years, alongside the increasing
percentage of material recycled. The English trends are positive,
as illustrated in the graphs attached as Appendix 1.
6. In Wales, recent progress has been dramatic,
with the 2003-04 Municipal Waste Survey for Wales[71]reporting
a municipal recycling and composting rate of 17.6% for that year,
compared to 12.7% for 2002-03. Again, this improvement corresponds
with significant new sums of money being made available to councils
and social enterprises for kerbside recycling schemes, and new
composting schemes. Although progress has been less immediate
in Scotland, the trend is still positive, with an increase in
the municipal composting and recycling rate from 7.4% in 2001-02
to 9.6% in 2002-03, and again, this is expected to rise rapidly
as new collection schemes come on stream, as they are now doing.
WRAP'S CONTRIBUTIONOUR
FIRST THREE
YEARS
7. WRAP's initial activities, focused on
recycling market development, have contributed to the momentum
now being generated in recycling and composting.
8. It is widely recognised that there is
little point in collecting materials for recycling unless there
is a market and an end use for that material. Recycling is a process,
not a single event at the point of collection, and it requires
industries to be capable and willing to utilise recovered materials,
and industry, commerce and the public sector to buy and specify
recycled and composted products. So, our work to remove market
barriers to recycling, and create new markets for recovered materials
has played a role in creating the climate within which more local
authorities have invested in new collection and composting schemes.
Greater detail on our approach to market development was outlined
in our submission to your previous inquiry in 2002-03.
9. Our achievements against the targets
set in our first Business Plan[72]
(published in 2001) are reported in detail in our 2004 Achievements
Report.[73]
They are summarised here:
the total tonnage of material targeted
in our 2001 Business Plan (across all materials specifiedpaper,
glass, plastics, wood, compost): 2,435,000 tonnes;
total tonnage delivered (minus aggregates,
which was a programme added part way through and not in the original
plan): 2,484,000 tonnes;
20 out of 23 targets set in
the Business Plan were fully or partially achieved;
£123 million private sector
investment leveraged, a total of £563 of private
investment for every £1 from WRAP (noted in detail in Appendix
3).
10. Although, as in any three year plan,
the tonnage delivered did not come from exactly the areas we originally
expected, WRAP's programmes still delivered a small excess of
49,000 tonnes in relation to the accumulated total tonnage in
our original Business Plan. If we include the additional work
undertaken in aggregates recycling, which we commenced in 2002
following an allocation of funds from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability
Fund, a total of 3,734,719 tonnes of additional material
will be recycled or composted annually as a result of WRAP's programmes.
A breakdown of this tonnage, showing projects completed and operational,
projects under construction, and projects in delivery which will
be completed over the next few years is described in the tables
attached as Appendix 2, together with a breakdown by material.
11. WRAP concentrated on improving the climate
in which recycling businesses, and those using recycled materials,
can thrive and flourish. To achieve this, we invested heavily
in research, development and pilot projects (to demonstrate new
uses of materials), as well as investing in new capacity for treatment
and processing of recyclables. Our work also brought more formality
and structure to markets for processed materials by the introduction
of new standards.
12. Some highlights of projects that illustrate
these key elements of our work so far include:
in research and development, successful
proving of the ability of finely ground glass cullet to be used
as a fluxing agent in brickmaking, with the ability to save up
to 20% energy savings in the brick industry, with consequent benefits
for CO2 emissions reduction;
successful development of Panelplus,
a recycled plastic panel using over 50% recycled materials with
applications in commercial vehicle use, temporary buildings, floorboards.
In vehicle panel use, this product is 60% lighter than conventional
panels, with benefits accruing in energy saving or increased vehicle
payload;
investment in major new capacity
in the newsprint industry to use recovered paper, with the conversion
of the Shotton paper mill in North Wales to the use of 100% recovered
fibre. This £17 million investment, approved by the European
Commission, has led to an additional 321,000 tonnes of paper recycling
every year, collected from up to an additional 4 million UK households;
and
development of a new British Standard
Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for compost (BSI PAS 100),
which provides a benchmark for the first time against which more
users of compost can have confidence in the reliability of compost
made from green waste. Over 60% of the UK's composting capacity
is now accredited under this standard, bringing greater confidence
to the marketplace in waste derived compost, with the potential
to open up markets in landscaping and horticulture, hitherto untapped.
13. Our work in market development continues
to develop, as it is clear that there is still much to do in this
area. WRAP maintains constant dialogue with key stakeholders in
the resource industries to ensure that our programmes remain close
to business need and relevant to current challenges. In the next
two years, as well as extended activity in our key materials of
wood, plastics, paper, glass, organics and aggregates, we will
be extending our market development work into other materials
and products, such as tyres, batteries and difficult construction
wastes (particularly plasterboard).
NEW CHALLENGESHOUSEHOLD
WASTE MINIMISATION,
COMMUNICATIONS AND
SUPPORT FOR
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
14. WRAP's resource efficiency remit now
extends to address the challenge of household waste minimisation,
improving public awareness of recycling and waste reduction, and
supporting local authorities in improving their recycling performance.
These responsibilities were acquired with funding in 2003 from
Defra's Waste Implementation Programme, as a result of Waste
Not: Want Not, the review of waste strategy in England conducted
in 2002 by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (SU) in the Cabinet
Office.[74]
15. The target on household waste minimisation,
set through the recommendations of the SU report, is to reduce
the rate of increase of household waste generation by 1%. To achieve
this, WRAP is running a series of initiatives, all of which will
contribute to this target:
Home composting. WRAP is running
a major programme in home composting which has so far distributed
over 150,000 compost bins working with over 20 local authority
partners. A major feature of this work is the comprehensive approach
developed to determine public preferences for different types
of composter and ways in which support information is received
and used, making it the largest study in the UK of the effectiveness
of home composting. WRAP's Evaluation team is using the data generated
by this initiative to create a diversion calculation methodology
for home composting. This will be a first in Europe, as it will
provide a method by which a minimum amount of diversion from home
composting can be calculated, which has not been achieved before.
It will be important that, once proven, Defra consider the use
of this model to allow local authorities to claim an amount of
waste diverted as a contributor to their overall recycling and
composting performanceboth in terms of councils' ability
to comply with the new Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS)
regime and through including home composting in their Best Value
Performance Indicators, under BV82 on composting. The WRAP programme
aims to divert at least 400,000 tonnes/year by 2006.
Real nappies. WRAP's waste
minimisation work is also targeting nappies as a measurable and
tangible element of the municipal waste stream where there is
some potential for reduction of the impact of disposable nappies
in landfill. The theme of our programme is to offer choice to
parents by raising awareness of the availability of real nappies,
and also by investing in business support for SME's engaged in
real nappy washing and service provision to parents. This programme
has a target to divert 35,000 tonnes/year by 2006.
Work with major retailers.
The major supermarkets and high street retailers have a major
role to play in helping to reduce the landfill burden created
by consumer use of products sold by them. WRAP has created an
Innovation Fund, which will make up to £8 million available
for projects to do this, through minimisation of packaging, redesign,
logistics change, or other ideas to achieve this challenging objective
of reducing this waste stream by at least 300,000 tonnes/year
by 2006.
16. Improvements in local authority recycling
and composting performance will be a key element of success if
the Government's Landfill Directive targets are to be achieved.
WRAP's role is to provide technical and communications support
to councils through a dedicated advisory serviceROTATEthe
Recycling and Organics Technical Advisory Team. This is a team
of practitioners, able to provide hands-on advice quickly to councils
who need help with designing new collection schemes or improving
the performance of existing schemes, an area where there is considerable
additional scope for action.
17. Supporting this is funding specifically
to improve recycling participation through communications work.
Almost £20 million is being invested now in schemes to boost
the performance of existing kerbside and other schemes. While
some of this activity is relatively prosaic, such as doorknocking
campaignsthis is what is needed to help raise the public
profile of recycling and remind the public of the services already
on their doorstep. Simple, effective campaigns can boost participation
by anything up to 50% and are very cost effective ways of getting
more out of existing investments in vehicles and boxes. This work
is being evaluated comprehensively, and full reports on the success
of this approach will be published as work is completed during
2005 and 2006.
18. Underpinning all of this activity is
a new, £10 million national awareness campaign for England,
Recycle Now. This features colourful TV and press advertising,
backed up with a support package for councils and provision of
a new, modern symbol for recycling which many councils are now
using. Celebrity endorsements such as Eddie Izzard and Matthew
Pinsent have helped to give the campaign a flying start this autumn,
supported by Environment Minister Elliot Morley MP. A first review
of the impact of this campaign will be undertaken in December
2004, and results will be made available to the Committee when
complete.
19. This work is a key component of a package
which includes local communications activity, extra collection
services, and more market outlets for the collected material.
Together they make up the main ingredients to WRAP's resource
efficiency activities for local government and business.
20. WRAP is conscious that much of this
new activity in waste minimisation, collection support and communications
is still relatively newalthough they are all based on established
good practice in other countries, where results have been delivered.
Although well beyond start up phase, most of these activities
are only now being delivered at full capacity. Most importantly,
WRAP remains committed to sharing the learning of lessons which
will be learned from all of this new work and its impact in the
UK context. As this work develops in the coming months, we will
be happy to share our experiences with the Committee as we all
continue to deliver our commitment to resource efficiency in the
United Kingdom.
APPENDIX 1
MUNICIPAL WASTE RECYCLING AND LANDFILLING
IN ENGLAND
DATA FROM DEFRA MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
SURVEYS


APPENDIX 2
WRAP ACHIEVEMENTS REPORT 2004
TONNAGESUMMARY OF TONNAGE FROM ACTIONS
2001-04
Material Stream |
Tonnes |
Glass | 864,242 |
Paper | 378,070 |
Wood | 577,501 |
Plastics | 84,756 |
Aggregates | 1,251,200 |
Organics | 578,950 |
TOTALS | 3,734,719 |
| |
STATUS OF TONNAGE FROM ACTIONS 2001-04
Completed and
operational | Under construction or
otherwise committed
| In delivery | TOTAL
|
954,449 | 737,200 | 2,043,070
| 3,734,719 |
| | |
|
APPENDIX 3
WRAP ACHIEVEMENTS REPORT 2004
PRIVATE INVESTMENT LEVERAGE
Project | Tonnage
/Year
| WRAP
Expenditure | Private
Funding
Leveraged
| WRAP £ /
Tonne over 10
years
| Private
Investment for
each WRAP £1
|
Shotton Paper Mill
(Paper) | 321,000
| £17,203,760 | £111,000,000
| £5.36 | £6.45 |
JFC Delleve (Plastics) | 20,000
| £1,150,000 | £2,000,000
| £5.75 | £1.74 |
A W Jenkinson (Wood) | 60,000
| £120,000 | £258,000
| £0.20 | £2.15 |
G I Hadfield & Son Ltd (Wood) | 40,000
| £500,000 | £1,017,000
| £1.25 | £2.03 |
3 Organics Projects | 35,000 |
£91,600 | £519,200 |
£0.26 | £5.67 |
16 Aggregates Projects | 980,000
| £2,413,000 | £6,039,291
| £0.25 | £2.50 |
TOTAL | 1,456,000 | £21,478,360
| £120,833,491 | £1.51
| £5.63 |
9 November 2004 | |
| | |
|
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66
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Welsh Assembly Government (2002), Wise about Waste-the National
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68
Scottish Executive (2003), National Waste Plan for Scotland. Back
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Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2004), Municipal
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71
Welsh Assembly Government (2004), 2003-04 Municipal Waste Survey
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72
Waste and Resources Action Programme (2001), First choice,
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73
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74
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|