Waste Strategy 2000
This established the Government’s vision of sustainable waste management in England until 2020. This set out the arguments for more sustainable management of the huge quantities of waste produced each year.
The main environmental rationales for action were:
- to reduce the impact of waste on climate change;
- to conserve limited natural resources; and
- to reduce risks to health and the environment from potentially harmful substances within waste.
Waste Strategy 2000 identified a number of levers to work towards sustainable waste management including statutory recycling standards for local authorities, the Landfill Tax escalator, tradable permits limiting the amount of waste local authorities can send to landfill, and the creation of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
However the strategy received criticism for focusing predominantly on municipal waste, rather than taking into account the volume of industrial and commercial, and construction waste streams. A review is currently underway, with a revised strategy due later in 2006. This review process is considering placing much more emphasis on construction and demolition waste and this will effect the construction industry in terms of implementing better waste management processes. The revised waste strategy is likely to be closely integrated with sustainable consumption and production, as waste is a key part of this.