Waste Prevention- MSW & C&I
Jamie Pitcairn and Simon Stockwell
Summary of Presentation - MSW• Target• Performance• Socio-economic drivers• Current action• Possible future action – eg waste
legislation consultation• And more?? Think Tank views
MSW Target
To Stop Growth inMunicipal Waste by 2010
• From 2001 to 2006, annual MSW waste growth in Scotland was around 1.5% a year
MSW arisings
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
2001/2 2002/3 2003/4 2004/5 2005/6 2006/7
Mil
lio
ns
ton
nes
Recent Performance
Socio-economic factors (-ve)• Growth in population. Latest figures by the GRO (S)
show that by 2006 Scotland’s population grew to 5,116,900
• Growth in single-person households. 35% of households had one adult (only) in 2006. Projected to be 44% by 2031. [30% in 1996]
• Economic growth• Consumerism – eg cooking time; cost of repair; cost of
new; cost of food; fashion [DEFRA]; consumer credit
Socio-economic factors (+ve)
• Newspaper sales falling
• More on-line billing
• Greater awareness
• Light-weighting etc
• Changes in the economy
What is Scotland doing? – action plan• Packaging• Life-span of products• Food waste campaign• Carrier bags• Unwanted mail• Home (and community) composting• Nappies• Social marketing• Greater re-use
More Planned
Consultation on
Waste Legislation
But what more can we do??
OVER TO THINK TANK MEMBERS
Zero WasteC&I
Commercial and Industrial
• Data not great – waste arisings relies mainly on surveys
• But we know the big generators: eg construction and demolition
• Hard to know overall waste performance. But amount going to landfill is steadily falling – permitted site returns
Waste Data- trends
C & I
(Mt)
C & D
(Mt)
2006 7.64 13*
2005 8.4 10.6
2004 8.9 7.3
*2006 – increase in number of exempt sites
Factors/Issues
• Industry mix. Scotland’s industrial base is changing - composition will change
• Planned economic growth in key sectors• Economic benefit to waste prevention 1 – 3% of
turnover can relate to waste (AEA & Cambridge Econometrics 2006)
• Corporate Social Responsibility (but does this mean anything? Are the right metrics used?)
Current Action• UK Government Landfill Tax. £8/tonne/year escalator.
£2.5 - £32/tonne• Producer responsibility – is this working?• Compulsory Site Waste Management Plans in England.• Envirowise working with Sepa and Planners to
implement SWMP. No real leadership and no clear roles/responsibilities
• Defra waste strategy – Halving C,D&E waste to landfill by 2012
• Programme support – Envirowise, WRAP, NISP
Envirowise Services
• Free advice and support• Advice-line & website• Visits – designTRACK, FastTrack• Publications, events & webinars
• Measurement and Benchmarking
• Carbon calculating tool
Envirowise
• 2006/07 programme activity• 18,000 businesses engaged with the
programme in Scotland– 67,000 web page hits– 2,100 calls to advice line– 320 visits– 26 Key Account Projects
Envirowise
• 2006 Impact Assessment*
• £13m saved by Scottish businesses• 132,000 tonnes diverted• 3,800,000 m3 water saved• 1,900,000 m3 Effluent saved• 55,000 tonnes of carbon
*Databuild – independent assessment
Increasing numbers of businesses want to act on
climate change
Envirowise helped businesses reduce carbon by between
1.1 – 1.6 million tonnes in 2005*
*Defra Impact assessment 2005
Considerations
Business Decisions include:• Proportions of raw materials
»E.g. plastic versus cardboard for packaging
• Proportions of different wastes»E.g. Plastic versus glass for bottles
Confirmed that material and water reductions are important for carbon reduction
Footprint and Resources
• Simple average of footprint from 10 companies from 6 sectors.
Composit carbon footprint
Utilities24%
Transport15%
Materials55%
Waste6%
Decision indicator - Prioritise
• Envirowise has developed a tool to help users think about how to manage their carbon footprint.
• This is only designed as an indicator, not a full-blown footprinting tool.
• Envirowise hopes this will increase understanding and focus on indirect impacts and help prioritise investments.
Conclusions and talking points
• For many sectors, resource use is key to managing carbon
• Getting across the message of indirect energy use and the implications of purchasing and location decisions will be critical
• The data for decision making is patchy, debateable, hard to access
Future Thinking - Data?• National data – needs to be better to
inform policy and decision making• Electronic database of returns• Top 20% of waste creators report data?• Planning & SWMP?
• Poor Business Data - Better data provision to the client company
• Understanding the ‘output’ – help focus attention onto ‘input’
• Agreement with waste management companies
Future Thinking - Targeting
• Specific waste streams: high volumes or high embodied carbon?
• Big companies & big tonnes• Waste prevention plans/reporting arisings• Focus on tonnes not turnover
• Sectors – Construction/Agriculture• Energy from waste?
Future Thinking - Regulation
• Policy Framework – focuses on waste management NOT waste prevention
• Packaging Directive – encourages recycling and re-use not reduction (PRNs)
• C&D – Mandatory SWMPs• Mandatory reporting by all contractors on waste
arisings and disposal• Prime contractors responsible for all waste
generated = reduction in fly-tipping
Clear Messages to Business
• Sustainable Production and Consumption • It’s raw materials, not waste.– Attitudinal change
and messaging – carbon tool, 3 planet living etc.
• Design waste out from the start, not at the end
• Construction• Manufacturing• Packaging
More Planned
Consultation on
Waste Legislation
– includes Waste Prevention Plans
But what more can we do??
OVER TO THINK TANK MEMBERS