Tackling The £78 Million Litter Blight

New research from Zero Waste Scotland reveals that more than half the population admit dropping litter which costs £53 million to clear up, and a further £25 million through its effect on a range of related issues including crime, health and reduced property values.

The research also found that:

• Over half the population of Scotland admits to having dropped litter
• 250 million individual items of litter are cleared up each year
• Half of these items could have been recycled.  They include valuable materials like plastic bottles and aluminium cans.  Recycled, these would be worth £1.2 million through sales of materials.
• 26,000 tonnes of waste is also dumped illegally in fly tipping activity

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead today unveiled a new consultation that outlines a series of actions to tackle the problem of litter head on.

‘Towards a Litter Free Scotland’ consultation runs until 27 September and the Scottish Government intends to bring forward a final National Litter Strategy – the first since devolution – early in 2014.

Article Source – Wrap

New Phase of Courtauld Commitment Targets a Further 1.1 Million Tonnes Waste Reduction

The grocery sector continues to show its commitment to reducing food and drink waste as 45 signatories join the third phase of the Courtauld Commitment, launched today.

Signatories including all major grocery retailers, and many household brands and manufacturers*, could reduce waste by 1.1 million tonnes by 2015, bringing £1.6 billion cost benefits to consumers and industry**. The expected 2.9Mt CO2(e) reduction would be the equivalent of permanently taking one million cars off the road.

The ambitious new targets, listed below, need to be achieved against a back drop of sales growth and an increase in the amount of food produced in the UK.

Courtauld Commitment Phase 3 targets are:

• Reduce household food and drink waste by 5% – this represents a 9% reduction in real terms to counter the expected increase in food purchased***.

• Reduce traditional grocery ingredient, product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 3% – signatories will have to make an 8% reduction in real terms to counter the expected increase in production and sales***.

• Improve packaging design through the supply chain to maximise recycled content as appropriate, improve recyclability and deliver product protection to reduce food waste, while ensuring there is no increase in the carbon impact of packaging – signatories will have to make a 3% reduction in real terms to counter the expected sales increase.

The agreement is funded by Westminster, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments and delivered by WRAP. It runs for three years from 2013 to 2015, with targets measured against a 2012 baseline.

The new targets could deliver £1.6 billion of savings to consumers, the food and drink sector, retailers and local authorities. Their delivery will also help improve the competitiveness and resilience of the supply chain, and significantly reduce the impact on the environment. The household food waste target alone could prevent enough food waste to fill 55,000 waste trucks – which would stretch from London to Paris.

To achieve the targets, signatories will need to help consumers reduce waste in the home. This will include delivering targeted food waste reduction initiatives, for example with the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, clearer product labelling and improved packaging design, while also tackling their own waste in the supply chain.

Significant achievements were made on optimising grocery packaging under Courtauld 1 and the first two years of Courtauld 2. Adding up achievements under both agreements to date indicates that around 1 million tonnes less packaging have been used. There are now limited opportunities for more substantial reductions in packaging without risking increases in waste.

The focus now is to optimise packaging to reduce food waste and improve recyclability to help consumers and local authorities, while ensuring no increase in the carbon impact against a back drop of increasing sales volume. The target will also help achieve the UK Governments’ ambitious new packaging recycling targets for 2013 – 2017.

The Courtauld Commitment has a history of achieving change. To date, 2.3 million tonnes of waste has successfully been prevented by the Courtauld signatories and consumers during the first two phases of the Commitment. The value of waste prevented is around £3.5bn. The final results of Courtauld Commitment 2 will be announced later this year.

Article Source – Wrap

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New Plan Launched to Tackle Waste at all UK Events

Today sees the launch of “Zero waste events: a 2020 vision”, a new event industry roadmap initiative with the goal of no waste being sent to landfill from UK events by the end of the decade.

The events industry is a complex sector comprising of thousands of operators of all shapes and sizes. It supports around 25,000 businesses and some half a million full time equivalent jobs. It has a significant impact on the economy, with a current value of £36 billion¹ projected to rise to £48 billion by 2020. The industry, however, could maximise the opportunities afforded by reducing waste to its advantage. While some of the sector has achieved as much as a 50%² recycling rate for their events, most are averaging just 15%, with a large amount of waste going direct to landfill.

The Events Industry Roadmap has been developed by WRAP working with the events industry as part of its work on the European Pathway to Zero Waste project (EPOW). The roadmap draws on lessons learned from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, creating a series of steps that events and the industry can take to achieve sustainable events.

The roadmap is the first stage in raising awareness of the positive impact which effective management of waste has on the delivery of events, both economically and environmentally. Specifically it:

• Sets out a clear vision for how the industry can achieve zero waste to landfill from the events sector by 2020;
• challenges the industry to consider how it can work more in partnership across the whole supply chain, working individually and collaboratively, to reduce waste and
• highlights the steps that need to be considered when preparing for and delivering a zero waste event – whatever the size, nature or location; be it commercial, cultural or sporting.

Dr Liz Goodwin, CEO, WRAP, said: “The London 2012 Olympics showed just what could be achieved by a clear commitment, by trying to prevent waste and manage it sustainably. Making waste prevention part of an event’s plan can deliver significant savings for businesses large and small. It will benefit all, from local community activities right up to large scale UK events like the Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow. The events industry roadmap was developed to support business growth by managing resources efficiently. It’s a simple vision, but it’s only by the industry individually and collectively taking on the challenge, that this vision can be realised – creating the opportunities for real economic benefits.”

Lord de Mauley, Resource Management Minister, said of the new sector initiative: “The UK has a rich and diverse heritage of music festivals, sporting events and cultural activities running throughout the year. These bring considerable economic benefits to our towns and cities through domestic spending and by attracting tourists to our shores.

“An industry worth £36 billion can make significant savings by tackling waste and reducing the impact waste overheads have on the bottom line. The industry can use this roadmap to improve their business returns through simple, collective effort.”

The roadmap is relevant to all those involved in planning and delivering events from event organisers/planners, managers and contractors, venue owners and promoters, corporate sponsors, local authorities, waste contractors, hospitality and catering companies to construction firms and builders. It is by key stakeholders taking action that the supply chain will be influenced most effectively, encouraging each link to review its own actions to minimise waste outputs, and maximise economic benefits.

The events roadmap is supported by a dedicated events industry portal zerowasteevents.org.uk. This is home to resources produced by WRAP, its partners, and third parties and which also signposts users to other useful information to help events become more sustainable. It will form a central repository for materials and information relating to achieving zero waste events. These include, for example, WRAP’s event Resource Management Plan Tool, an online tool for event organisers and suppliers to manage event waste, as well as the London 2012 Learning Legacy documents.

Wrap