Waste

Key issues

• In the UK we generate around 26 million tonnes of household waste every year - on average, 1 tonne per household.
• Of this, 6.7 million tonnes is food waste, of which 60% is avoidable, yet almost all of it ends up in landfill. Eliminating this waste could save 18 Mt CO2 -equivalent (CO2e) per year.
• More significantly, wasted food also means wasted production, transportation, storage and disposal, which have associated energy and carbon costs. Around a fifth of our greenhouse gas emissions are associated with these activities.
• Although household waste recycling is increasing, a significant minority of people (16 per cent) still do not recycle at all.

Our role

• We are an independent, UK-based organisation focussed on promoting action that leads to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
• We provide waste minimisation advice to consumers to reflect the contribution it can make to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. Our strategy sets out our priorities for this for 2009-2014.
• We work in close partnership with WRAP (in England and Wales), Bryson Recycling (in Northern Ireland), Waste Awareness Wales and the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) to develop tailored local messaging on waste prevention, recycling and home composting.

Our views Link between waste and action on climate change

• People who recycle are more likely to take other actions, such as saving water or energy. Since we already provide a wide range of environmental advice, we are uniquely placed to make the waste-carbon link more explicit and encourage more consumers to reduce their waste.

Waste prevention

• Current advice on replacement of products with more energy or water-efficient ones often conflicts with waste minimisation advice on repairs and reuse of goods. Consistent recommendations that lead to best environmental outcomes are needed across the range of consumer advice.

Recycling

• We are concerned that lack of a consistent approach to provision of recycling facilities across the UK is a significant factor in discouraging recycling. We will be gathering evidence from our consumer surveys to advise the government and others accordingly.

Composting

• Composting of waste is a sustainable way of reducing the volumes of waste going to landfill. Where home composting is not possible - for example in urban areas with predominance of flats - we would like to see more local authorities providing centralised composing services.