Resources and waste minister Thérèse Coffey has expressed an ambition for the UK to become ‘one of the most resource efficient countries in the world’ – but has claimed that government ‘won’t regulate to force this change’.
The minister’s comments were expressed to delegates at an event hosted by Aldersgate Group – an environmental consortium of business leaders and politicians – launching the Group’s ‘Amplifying Action on Resource Efficiency’ in London yesterday (31 January).
The speech written by the Defra minister Thérèse Coffey (left), was delivered by Defra’s deputy director of waste and recycling Chris Preston (right)
Dr Coffey had been due to give the keynote address to launch the report, but had to pull out of the event at the last minute.
Her speech was instead delivered by Chris Preston, deputy director of waste and recycling at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) who read out the minister’s comments.
Reading the pre-prepared address, Mr Preston said that the UK’s exit from the EU presented a ‘unique opportunity’ to drive up resource productivity in the UK.
Recycling targets
The speech continued: “Up to now, much of our policy in this area has been driven by the need to meet EU waste targets, leading to a focus on recycling heavy things without actually thinking about the value or the environmental impact of those materials or without thinking about the best process for maximising the benefit we get from them.
“One of the biggest surprises I have had since becoming a minister is to learn how much of our recycling target is met through things like garden waste.
“While we are going to maintain a commitment to driving up performance on recycling and continue to engage in the negotiations on the Circular Economy package we’re also going to look at how we can extend this focus to incentivise a much wider range of activities that promote resource efficiency before these materials become waste.“
The minister’s prepared speech also touched on comments she had made in the autumn, suggesting that future waste policy will focus on ‘outcomes’ (see letsrecycle.com story), but suggested that a change in approach should be led by businesses and not government.
“From my perspective the time feels right in terms of the resource efficiency agenda.”
Chris Preston
Defra
“In responding to these challenges, business is absolutely critical, business has to take the lead. This can’t just be about producers, it has to be a two-way street with reprocessors as well,” Dr Coffey’s speech suggested, adding: “Government also has a key role to play, we can’t regulate to force this change, but we can ensure the right policy framework is in place to support the market.”
25-year plan
Taking questions from delegates following the address, Mr Preston said that the government’s approach would be outlined further still in Defra’s 25-year plan for the natural environment, a framework for which is due out ‘very soon’.
He said: “From my perspective the time feels right in terms of the resource efficiency agenda. We have got the 25-year environment plan and the Industrial Strategy, we’ve got the government’s chief scientific adviser’s waste and resource productivity report and the Circular Economy package negotiations happening so it is against a backdrop of really moving this agenda forward and making a huge difference for the UK economy.”
The post Defra backs ‘business-led’ approach to resource efficiency appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
