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 in Municipal Waste by 2010

From 2001 to 2006, annual MSW waste growth in Scotland was around 1.5% a year 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 Projected to be 44% by [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 Waste C&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 – 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.

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