Inside Track

Data estimates for commercial and industrial (C&I) waste arisings in England show a 29% reduction over the last six years.  These results, released as part of a DEFRA survey, demonstrate the efforts taken by businesses to improve resource efficiency despite a floundering national waste policy.

In 2009 48 million tonnes of C&I waste was produced in England.  This compares to 68 million tonnes in 2002/03, the last time the survey was carried out.  The results also show greater levels of recycling of C&I waste (up 10% over period) and a reduction (12%) in volume of waste sent to landfill.

Whilst DEFRA is keen to show evidence that its policies are decoupling economic growth from waste production it has remained tight-lipped on C&I performance.  This is, in part, due to the fact that the method for data collection is reliant on a number of estimates, and with changes to waste classifications the results are not entirely comparable with earlier surveys in 1998/99 and 2002/03.  Equally, DEFRA remains unclear over the effect the recession has had on waste arisings. 

There is, however, common acceptance that waste is reducing and that this trend is reflected across all waste types with the exception of “discarded equipment” (i.e. waste electrical and electronic equipment).  Yet without confidence in the data it remains difficult to judge overall performance and to ensure that policies are delivering on their objectives and to time.

The survey data will undoubtedly be used to shape the government’s Waste Review which is expected in April.  However, to get a full understanding of waste trends in England the Government must get a proper grip on waste data to ensure its policies facilitate further reductions which help not hinder business.  Until this is achieved the goal of a ‘zero waste economy’ seems a long way off.

Almost all parts of government are being required to make very substantial spending cuts - ministers have until the autumn to identify how they will contribute to an overall reduction of 25%.  When you remember that a few areas of government have ring-fenced budgets, some will be required to reach deeper still.  So what lies in wait for health and safety? 

Well, I'm afraid I don't have a crystal ball.  I understand that negotiations are ongoing and nothing is yet decided, but clearly the impact is going to be very signficant.  The Health and Safety Executive has already made some fairly large savings, moving all but a few of its staff out of London and at the same time taking the opportunity to reduce the size of its policy function.  I'm sure that some further savings can be found, but there will come a point when reducing the budget will start to have an impact on front line resources. 

I would argue that if the budget for health and safety is to be reduced, it must be looked at in the round.  Interventions should be targeted on the basis of risk; in times of tight resources this is even more true.  At present HSE does a pretty good job of targetting, as do a significant proportion of local authorities - but there is a discontinuity between the two because each is allowed to carry out their own prioritisation.  As a result in 2008 the Better Regulation Executive found that an office was just as likely to receive an inspection as a construction site; whilst a warehouse was more than twice as likely to be visited as a factory. 

The budget for all regulation, whether by HSE or by local authorities should be added together; the necessary saving made and then resources prioritised across the piece on the basis of risk.   Interventions can then be allocated to the people best placed to deliver.

It is also vital that the temptation is avoided to shift all remaining resources to inspection and enforcement - or indeed to education and advice.  Experience and research shows that it is a mix of interventions that works best:  supporting those who want to do the right thing, whilst taking a tough line with the unwilling who seek to gain short-term advantage by exposing their employees to serious risks.

We're living in tough times, but an approach to health and safety that targets risk can still weather the storm.

After years of the same from the Department that deals with waste within government, we may now be seeing a real shake up of this ‘stuck in the mud’ area, for the benefit of the environment and business.

One of the first things that Caroline Spelman (Environment Secretary) did in her new post within Defra, was to call for a full review of waste policy. This is welcome, as for too long government has listened too much to the waste industry and been too afraid of Brussels to really be bold on how the UK views resource use and waste.

Waste policy affects all manufacturers and is still seen by EEF members as a biggest environmental issue to their businesses. Ahead of the election in May, the Tories were committing themselves to simplifying waste policy, to enable businesses to see value in materials that are discarded. With the focus more on resource use, rather than on waste at the end of the line.

The Defra Waste Review is due to be published within the next week and will really give EEF a chance to influence future UK resource management policy. Yes I said resource management policy and not waste, as waste is the wrong word here. EEF believe that government must now develop a Resource Management Strategy.

I believe that the politicians wish this to happen, but I am less convinced that Defra Officials are willing to ‘break the mould’. At a BIS meeting yesterday (26 July 2010) on the Waste Review, I challenged a senior Defra Official for the narrow focus of only thinking about waste within the review, rather than looking wider, namely, resource use. His reply was that he sees the Waste Review as only looking at waste and anything wider than that would be too much. My clear message to Defra is that it needs to think much wider.

This may be all academic, as I believe we saw a struggle for power at this BIS meeting, between Defra and BIS, as to which department is driving the debate on waste. There was much discussion in the corridors of the meeting, that waste policy should be moved from Defra to BIS. I can see the merit in this view and certainly believe that the two departments must work closer together here, with new blood bringing in a fresh view of what could be achieved if government has the will.

In a paper published in November 2009, EEF called for the following (link below):

1. A clear and long-term resource management strategy.
2. Waste legislation and guidance must be simplified to allow business to fully contribute to sustainable waste and resource management
3. Facilitate speedy delivery of the necessary infrastructure and services to facilitate the recovery of useful resources from all waste streams.
4. Provide targeted advice and support to encourage business resource efficiency through eco-design, process re-engineering and R&D funding.
5. Encourage resource use optimisation across product/material life-cycles by the government’s ability to stimulate demand for resource efficient products.

The findings of the government review will be published in Spring 2011.

WasteStrategy2007twoyearsonFINAL_pdf_.pdf (76.50 kb)