Memorandum by Mike Read Associates
INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Mike Read Associates (MRA) is an international
environmental consultancy, established in 1987 and has worked
for clients including the UK, German, and Australian Governments,
as well as the European Parliament. Since 2002 MRA has developed
expertise in resource efficiency in the UK, including work on
waste prevention for Defra, water efficiency with the Environment
Agency, and the development of Beyond Recycling.[24]
In the context of this evidence it is assumed
that waste "reduction" is distinct from and excludes
recycling. Indeed it is taken to be equivalent to the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) interpretation
of waste prevention (as a subset of waste minimisation), ie prevention
being avoidance, reduction at source and reuse of products, as
distinct from recovery (including recycling) and disposal. Thus
essentially a beginning-of-pipe approach including issues such
as design, efficient production and use, and levels of consumption.
We have only answered those questions where
we have factual information or a considered opinion to offer.
WASTE REDUCTION
AND CLIMATE
CHANGE
While a certain amount of effort has been given
to assessing the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation aspects of recycling,[25]
virtually no effort has been expended to date on assessing mitigation
benefits of waste prevention, even though the benefits are likely
to be significantly greater. Given the primacy of tackling climate
change this is an odd omission.
Fortunately Defra's recent Waste and Resources
Evidence Strategy 2007-11 refers to a need for further research
in this area (Table 4.1, Section E in the Strategy). We suggest
this is an issue of the highest priority both to provide the evidence
for the primary environmental benefits of waste prevention, and
to contribute to knowledge on practical GHG mitigation techniques.
Mike Read Associates has been endeavouring to
assemble and assess the various models used for making calculations
of the GHG benefits of waste prevention. The few models that have
been developed generally focus on avoided emissions associated
with material disposal but completely ignore the reduced emissions
associated with avoided extraction of raw materials, avoided transport,
avoided manufacture, avoided use, and even avoided recycling.
An attempt was made within the Government's
Waste Strategy 2007 (Annex 1, Appendix 1) to provide assessments
of the relative benefits of recycling and waste prevention, but
as Defra acknowledge the basis for the calculations is not sophisticated
(James Vause, pers. comm.). For instance, the waste prevention
figures in the Strategy represent the energy that would have been
used to make the material, but omit the wider production and consumption
processes.
A much more sophisticated model, known as WARM[26]
has been developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
However this model also suffers from significant flaws. For instance,
the methodologies used for calculating GHG benefits of waste prevention
and of recycling differ significantly, and subsequent presentation
of the figures in a comparative context is misleading.
We strongly suggest that developing robust methodologies
for assessing the GHG benefits of waste reduction needs to be
given a very high priority.
BETTER DESIGN
AND THE
USE OF
MATERIALS
What role can better design and materials play
in minimising the creation of waste? Are there any barriers to
how knowledge in this area can best be translated and applied?
Waste reduction substantially relies on beginning-of-pipe
solutions (as opposed to the end-of-pipe approaches offered by
recycling, landfill, or combustion) and could be said to comprise
four main elements, namely:
1.
producing fewer items;
The first two of these four require better design
and choice of materials, and there are considerable barriers to
knowledge in this area.
Waste reduction requires a wider range of skills
and a more inter-disciplinary approach than for more conventional
waste management. The knowledge barriers appear to be particularly
acute in terms of knowledge transfer between disciplines. A proposal
for a waste prevention "network" to, inter alia,
address this challenge has been developed by Mike Read Associates
as part of a Defra-funded research project.[27]
An expanded and more detailed proposal for a "Beyond Recycling"
Network has been developed with the University of Northampton.
It appears rare for waste reduction to even
be included in design briefs for products. Inclusion at the design
brief stage could radically improve resource efficiency.
What factors influence the use of materials? In
what way do considerations of sustainability feature in the selection
of most commonly used materials?
Cost and availability appear paramount in most
contexts. Where a claim of sustainability can be applied (legitimately
or otherwise) to a commonly used material this will be used to
promote the material or product, but change to a less unsustainable
material appears relatively rare.
To what extent do product designers and engineers
take into account the availability and the end of life impacts
of raw materials?
Most designers, including engineering designers
work to design briefs. As mentioned above, these often do not
include consideration of sustainable production and consumption.
Can better designed products offset the increase
in consumption?
To a limited extent only. Products that consume
fewer materials in their production, transport, retail and use
can help reduce the growth in impact of increasing consumption.
However it seems likely that a very considerable reduction in
material consumption is required to achieve truly sustainable
material use, along with reducing greenhouse gas emissions towards
necessary targets.
Are there any other gaps in knowledge and how
are they being addressed?
The biggest gap in knowledge would appear to
be how design affects not just material use in a product but material
consumption over a product's potential life, and the greenhouse
gas emissions associated therewith. This is a discipline that
appears as much in its infancy as it is important.
BUSINESS FRAMEWORK
Does the current policy, regulatory and legal
framework support and incentivise the development of better, more
sustainable products and processes? How is the framework communicated
to businesses and what is the level of awareness and understanding
among businesses?
While many policy, regulatory and legal instruments
(producer responsibility, landfill taxes, etc), acting individually,
incentivise greater sustainability, the overall framework still
appears to prioritise profitability and shareholder value far
above sustainability. Indeed, the very means used to judge success
countervail promotion of sustainable products and processes. For
instance at national level Gross Domestic Product can readily
be seen as a measure of how swiftly material and environmental
capital is being exhausted.
How central is sustainable design to business
thinking? What initiatives are in place to encourage this and
are they meeting business needs?
While some businesses are considering sustainable
design, there remains that a perception that a product with a
reduced "footprint" compared to its predecessor is de
facto "environmentally friendly". However this is
frequently just as fallacious as considering a reduced debt to
be a credit. It appears that many more initiatives meet business
needs than meet environmental needs.
Waste reduction actually offers considerable
scope for cost cutting for business, as is evidenced by success
of some of the elements of the BREW family of programmes.[28]
What other measures can promote a focus on waste
reduction among businesses?
1.
taxation and regulatory structures that favour the
production of long-lived, repairable, refurbishable and upgradeable
products; and
What lessons can business learn from international
experience?
Although rapidly emerging as an issue of great
importance, waste reduction appears to be as yet poorly understood
across the developed world, and as yet there is little effort
to gather and disseminate best practice. Ironically the best practice
may be found in the developing world where greater value is put
on efficient resource use and reuse.
GOVERNMENT POLICY
What is and should be the role of Government in
addressing the issue of waste reduction?
Until very recently, waste reduction—despite
being at the top of the Government's waste management hierarchy—has
received remarkably little attention or funding. There are signs
in the recent Waste Strategy 2007 that this is changing,
however there is a great deal more to do. The establishment of
statutory municipal waste prevention targets for local authorities,
alongside their waste recycling targets, would be one valuable
step, if accompanied by the necessary research, resources and
guidance.
19 October 2007
http://www.beyondrecycling.net/scopingstudy/index.html
24 www.beyondrecycling.net Back
25
Carbon Balances and Energy Impacts of the Management of UK
Wastes. ERM and Golder Associates report for Defra. Back
26
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/wstewise/climate/tools.htm Back
27
Towards an Efficient Waste Prevention "Network".
Mike Read Associates, July 2007. Available at Back
28
http://www.defra.gov.uk/Environment/waste/brew/factsheets.htm. Back
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