Memorandum submitted by the Waste &
Resources Action Programme
Our response focuses on the climate change benefits
of recycling and waste minimisation activities, and suggests that
these should be considered as an important element of the response
of local, regional and devolved governments to the challenge of
climate change.
INTRODUCTION TO
WRAP
1. WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action
Programme) is a-not-for profit UK company providing recycling
and resource efficiency programmes for Defra, the Scottish Executive,
the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The organisation
was formed in 2000 to implement a number of the actions set out
in the Government White Paper Waste Strategy 2000.[34]
2. WRAP works in partnership to encourage
and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their
use of materials, and to recycle more things more often. This
helps to divert waste from landfill, reduce carbon emissions and
improve our environment.
3. WRAP's programmes encompass a wide variety
of activities of relevance to local, regional and devolved government.
We were originally set up to develop end-markets for recycled
materials, so that the large amounts of additional material to
be collected by local authorities (in order to meet the statutory
recycling targets in Waste Strategy 2000) could be put to productive
use. Developing high-value end-markets in this way also provides
economic support to local authorities' recycling operations, by
providing them with an income (from the sale of the recyclate
to waste reprocessors), where previously that waste represented
a cost to them (to send it to landfill).
4. We are responsible for the national Recycle
Now advertising campaign, which provides local authorities with
tailored communications materials for local campaigns, tied into
the national messages. In addition, WRAP supports local authorities
directly in their work to deliver better recycling services and
more waste reduction in a cost-effective way. Our Recycling and
Organics Technical Advisory Team (ROTATE) provides practical advice
to local authorities. WRAP also provides training courses to develop
skills and increase knowledge for those working in waste management
in local, regional and devolved governments.
5. We also work with the Regional Development
Agencies across England to integrate market development activity
into their programmes. And in addition, we work with the devolved
governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, delivering
services to each which reflect their differing priorities and
delivery mechanisms.
THE CONTRIBUTIONS
OF WASTE
MINIMISATION AND
RECYCLING TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
MITIGATION
6. WRAP agrees with the Committee that local,
regional and devolved governments have an important role to play
in the reduction of CO2 emissions. We applaud the cross-sectoral
initiatives already under way, such as the Nottingham Declaration.
7. However, there is a danger that our discussions
about the actions that public bodies can take to combat climate
change focus exclusively on the most obvious areas, such as energy
efficiency. We would encourage a wider view, looking at all the
functions of such bodies, and the extent to which they can contribute
to the fight against climate change.
8. Waste management is one of the most commonly
recognised functions of local authorities. The regional and devolved
governments also have important responsibilities for waste issues.
All of these provide opportunities to mitigate climate change.
Waste minimisation
9. The top rung of the waste hierarchy is
waste minimisation or waste reduction, where actions are taken
to stop waste from arising in the first place. Given that, on
average, one tonne of finished product requires the extraction
from the ground of around ten tonnes of material,[35]
the material savings to be made through waste minimisation are
obvious. However, what is perhaps less obvious is the embedded
energy associated with finished products—in other words,
the energy it took to produce them—and the potential that
waste minimisation has to save this embedded energy.
10. As an example, the manufacture of 1
tonne of primary aluminium requires 55 gigajoules (15,400 kilowatt
hours) of energy.[36]
Now if, through waste minimisation activities (such as eco-design),
the lifetime of an aluminium product could be doubled, this would
cut the waste of embedded energy by 50% over the lifetime of the
new, longer-life product.
11. WRAP has worked with 112 local authorities
in England and Scotland to provide over 1.6 million home composting
bins since 2004. As a result, more than one third of English and
Scottish households are now composting at home, thanks in part
to WRAP support. And each person who composts at home saves not
only the embedded energy in the compost they would have otherwise
had to buy commercially, but also avoids the emissions of methane
(a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than CO2) that their
organic waste would have generated in a landfill site.
Recycling
12. In May 2006, WRAP published Environmental
Benefits of Recycling,[37]
a specialist review of international studies which shows how increased
recycling is helping to tackle climate change. The report shows
that in the vast majority of cases, the recycling of materials
has greater environmental benefits than incineration or landfill.
13. The UK's current recycling of these
materials saves 18 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse
gases per year, compared to applying the current mix of landfill
and incineration with energy recovery to the same materials. This
is equivalent to about 14% of the annual CO2 emissions from the
transport sector[38]
and equates to taking 5 million cars off UK roads.[39]
14. The message of this 2006 study is unequivocal.
Recycling is good for the environment, saves energy, reduces raw
material extraction and combats climate change. It has a vital
role to play as waste and resource strategies are reviewed to
meet the challenges posed by European Directives, as well as in
moving the UK towards more sustainable patterns of consumption
and production, and in combating climate change by reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.
CONCLUSION
15. In conclusion, we would argue that a
strong focus on sustainable waste management by local, regional
and devolved governments, which prioritises waste minimisation
and recycling in line with the waste hierarchy, will contribute
to reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly, and should
therefore be a priority for all such bodies as an important part
of their climate change mitigation strategies.
3 January 2008
http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Recycling_LCA_Report_Sept_2006_-_Final.492ff242.pdf
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/strategy07/pdf/waste07-strategy.pdf
http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/2007Achievements_Report.4529afe9.pdf
34 Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions (2000), Waste Strategy 2000 for England and Wales,
Parts 1 & 2, Cm 4693-1 & 2, London: Stationery Office. Back
35
See, for example, The Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food:
Facing the Future (Defra, 2002), page 11 (in relation to food
production). Back
36
Dahlstrom, K, Ekins, P, et al (2004) Iron, Steel
and Aluminium in the UK: Material flows and their economic dimensions.
Policy Studies Institute, London and Centre for Environmental
Strategy, University of Surrey, available from: www.psi.org.uk/publications/archivepdfs/environment/finalprojectreport.pdf Back
37
WRAP (2006) Environmental Benefits of Recycling Back
38
Defra (2007) Waste Strategy for England 2007 Back
39
WRAP (2007) WRAP's Review for 2006-07. Waste, Society and Climate
Change-Making a Difference. Back
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