Inside Track

The Government’s overarching approach to waste is to work towards a zero waste economy. Part of the work of the DEFRA Review of Waste Policies is to define more closely what this means, setting clear measurable objectives, and potentially accompanying this with targets in the short, medium and longer terms.

However, from the outset, the Government has made it clear that a zero waste economy is not where no waste is produced. The Government envisages that amongst others, the zero waste economy will have the following characteristics:

·         resources are fully valued – financially and environmentally.

·         one person’s waste is another’s resource.

·         over time, we get as close as we possibly can to zero landfill.

·         a new public consciousness in our attitude to waste.

DEFRA’s Call for Evidence is the first step in developing these ideas into something more holistic with clear and measurable outputs. As always your comments to this debate would be welcome.