Isonomia

by Phillip Ward

It will no doubt take Owen Paterson a few days to uncover all the issues Caroline Spelman left in his in-tray.

One which has dipped under the radar is the promised revised guidance on applying the waste hierarchy.  Whilst it has been around for a long time, the hierarchy assumes greater significance now that the revised Waste Framework Directive gives its prioritisation of methods of waste treatment a statutory basis. Last year it was enshrined in England and Wales regulations that are now in force. Anyone creating or handling waste is already obliged to follow the hierarchy (Prevention, Preparing for Reuse, Recycling, Recovery or Disposal) and penalties can be imposed if they fail to do so. However, the guidance is a critical tool to enable the hierarchy to be applied in practice.

Read more on Reshuffling the waste hierarchy…

by Phillip Ward

Of all the ideological tussles going on within the coalition government, perhaps the one least in the public eye is that over the environment.  It is too simple to say that the debate splits down party lines. That would be unfair on some Conservatives – like Tim Yeo – who genuinely get the point. And it may be too generous to some Liberal Democrats – like Nick Clegg.

Read more on Blue, orange and green…

by Phillip Ward

In the run up to Christmas, amidst the familiar seasonal fare about festive waste, there was a little-noticed  article in the Telegraph  about packaging  – but there were two quite remarkable things about it.

Read more on Who is in charge of waste?…

by Phillip Ward

Defra handed out Christmas presents this week in the form of £500,000 for 16 trials of rewards for increased recycling.

It prompted me to reflect on how far we have come since last year – and how slowly. Following the election, we saw Eric Pickles make great play of repealing the powers to run five pilots to test Pay as You Throw schemes, followed by an unseemly scramble between him and Caroline Spelman to show support for the RecycleBank incentive scheme in Windsor and Maidenhead. The political message was clear: increased recycling would come when individuals were incentivised to do the right thing.

Read more on Christmas fig leaves?…

by Joe Papineschi

The Government’s Waste Review in June was greeted by the waste industry in terms that ranged from disappointment to derision. However, my inner reaction (and I suspect that I wasn’t alone in this) was primarily one of relief – whilst it clearly could have been better, it could have been an awful lot worse. I’ve been reflecting on where the Review leaves the strategic picture on waste collection.

Read more on Weekly collecting – my thoughts…