Assembly Member Leonie Cooper has urged London residents and businesses to ‘step up’ their recycling activities, following the setting of higher municipal waste targets in the EU circular economy package.
She made her call for action during an Environmental Services Association’s event yesterday (6 June), where the trade body called for a ‘‘supportive policy approach” from government to encourage investment in EfW infrastructure.
Leonie Cooper at yesterday’s ESA event
Encouragement
Ms Cooper said that more must be done to develop the ‘so-called’ circular economy package with a strong emphasis on government helping small and medium businesses with producing more efficient recycling processes.
“London is wasting resources treating valuable things as nothing more than rubbish,” she said. “I think there is an urgent need in London for separating food waste from homes, cafes and restaurants; using it to create gas as it’s broken down in anaerobic digesters. No food waste should really go anywhere else apart from into composters, certainly not energy from waste (EfW) facilities.”
The assembly member continued: “Metals could be turned into jewellery and coffee grounds turned into fuel to power buses. Upcycling and free-cycling opportunities are there but we ignore them often. We need to develop the ‘so called’ circular economy supporting for small and medium size businesses to develop innovative processes.”
ESA report
At the event held in Westminster, the ESA formerly launched its report, ‘Energy for the Circular Economy: An overview of Energy from Waste in the UK.’ The report provides an overview of EfW and its current vital role in a more circular economy and looks forward to where the secretary is heading (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting on the report, Jacob Hayler, executive director at the ESA, told the audience: “There is a misunderstanding and a lack of knowledge around EfW and the important role it will play as part of a circular economy. There will still be a considerable portion of non-recyclable material that will need to be treated at EU level.”
Mr Hayler added: “We need to get material out of landfill and into energy recovery. Even at circular economy package levels of recycling there is still a risk of under capacity of EfW within the UK.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
