Gove targets plastic packaging and ‘fast fashion’
The Government and companies owe it to the planet to do much more to tackle waste
chief Political correspondent
A NEW government waste strategy will help the country become a “less throwaway society” and ensure it “treads more lightly on the planet”, Michael Gove says today.
The Government’s 147-page resources and waste strategy – published today by Mr Gove – sets out how ministers will boost recycling rates.
Goods could be stamped with their life expectancy to encourage consumers not to throw them away prematurely, while companies will have to pay hundreds of millions of pounds more to help councils dispose of their packaging.
Householders will be encouraged to recycle goods they find at council tips and best-before dates on fruit and vegetables look set to be scrapped.
More bins will be handed out to householders as part of a move to increase recycling rates, and more homes could be offered free garden and food waste collections.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, the Environment Secretary criticises plastic packaging around Christmas presents as “excessive and unnecessarily elaborate rubbish”, and says he wants manufacturers to “shoulder their responsibilities”.
Mr Gove says: “The planet needs us to do more. The waste problem is not just for Christmas. It’s for life.
“This strategy will help us go further, faster to delivering clean growth, innovation and a better world for our children.
“There is far too much variation, and therefore confusion, in how councils collect waste. That makes it frustrating, and difficult, for people who want to do the right thing.”
Mr Gove takes aim at so-called “fast fashion” – clothes worn a few times before being thrown away – saying he wants the clothes manufacturers to pay for their environmental footprint.
Ministers are also set to consult to expand a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans to include disposable coffee cups, and to introduce annual reporting of food waste by businesses – with mandatory targets if progress is not made on curbing the problem.
Mr Gove says: “Some may argue that these steps put the interests of the environment ahead of economic factors. They couldn’t be more wrong.
“You can’t have a healthy economy without a sustainable environment to provide the resources we all need. Using resources more wisely improves productivity.”
‘The planet needs us to do more. The waste problem is not just for Christmas. It’s for life’
HOUSEHOLDS across the country will have to separate more recycling and manufacturers will have to say how long their goods will last, as part of a “green” revolution unveiled today by Michael Gove. “Best before” dates on fruit and vegetables could be scrapped, more homes offered free garden- and food-waste collections and a depositreturn scheme for plastic bottles extended to plastic coffee cups under a major new waste strategy.
Mr Gove, the Environment Secretary, said that the country had to “move away from being a ‘throwaway’ society, to one that looks at waste as a valuable resource”. The measures come after household recycling rates in England have all but flatlined in recent years and amid widespread concern over single-use plastics.
Curbs on packaging
Companies such as Amazon will have to pay hundreds of millions of pounds more to help councils dispose of their packaging. At present companies pay about 10 per cent – £72million – of the true cost of collection and processing of packaging waste. Ministers want this lifted to 100 per cent. But there are fears these costs could be passed on to consumers.
More recycling bins
The Government will establish in law what recycled material – such as tins and types of plastic – needs to be collected. Ministers are hoping that this will end the current confusion, which can see policies on recycling vary from council to council.
More households will also be required to separate their recycled material for council refuse collectors to try to boost rates.
Last year 470,000 tonnes – 5 per cent of all recycling – was rejected on the grounds that it had been “contaminated” by other waste.
Separating glass from paper, for example, will “improve quality, increase revenue for local authorities and ensure more packaging can be recycled”, the strategy says.
Extending the life time of household goods
Consumers will be told how long products they have bought are meant to last to encourage them to use items for longer.
The strategy will consider “mandatory disclosure of expected product lifetimes” so that people are aware how long they can use an item before it should be replaced to help “keep viable Country has to ‘move away from being a throwaway society, to one that looks at waste as a valuable resource’ products in active use for longer”.
Councils will be encouraged to set up shops at dumps to sell on anything of value – for example, a secondhand bicycle that could fetch £15 to a new owner rather than just 80p for scrap.
A new duty to reuse will help councils understand that “selling or even allowing residents and small businesses to take such items can save local authorities on the cost of disposal, including landfill tax”.
More free garden and food waste collections
Weekly collections of food waste, which is often smelly and unpleasant, will be introduced for all households.
They will also be able to have their garden waste collected free of charge from 2023, the strategy says. Currently some councils charge for the service.
The end of ‘best before’
Ministers want to end the confusion between “best before” and “use by” labelling on fresh food.
The Government will next year “review the current recommendation for most pre-packed uncut fresh produce to carry a “best before” date”.
Officials will also look at whether retailers can sell more fresh produce loose to reduce plastic waste without hitting quality.
Coffee-cup deposit scheme
The Government announced a plan for a deposit-return scheme for plastic bottles earlier this year. Consumers are charged upfront for single-use drinks containers.
The waste strategy proposes that this be extended to “disposable cups filled at the point of sale in a depositreturn scheme”.
Christmas is a chance to enjoy all that is delicious to eat, drink and unwrap. ’Tis the season to be jolly – and ’tis also the season to think about recycling. As is so often the case, there’s a price to pay for having a good time and the waste hangover each Christmas is particularly painful. More than 200,000 miles of wrapping paper are thrown away. The card packaging used would cover the London Eye almost 50,000 times. As for plastic packaging, so much of what we buy comes encased in excessive rubbish.
It’s more obvious at this time of year but it’s a perennial problem, and one the Government is determined to tackle. The resources and waste strategy we are launching today is aimed squarely at helping our society go further, and faster, to reduce, reuse and recycle. This overhaul of the system should help us to become a less throwaway society, and tread more lightly on the planet.
We’ll make sure firms shoulder their responsibilities. It’s only right that they pay their fair share for the pollution caused by their products. So we’ll charge them the full cost of recycling or disposing of packaging waste. At the moment, businesses pay only about 10 per cent of the cost of dealing with their waste. By increasing that to 100 per cent we will incentivise producers to think carefully about using less packaging, and to switch to using packaging that is easily recyclable. The money raised will be used to boost household recycling and make sure that any packaging used is recycled and disposed of properly.
Many households are already dedicated recyclers. But there is far too much variation, and confusion, in how councils collect waste. That makes it frustrating, and difficult, for people who want to do the right thing. That’s why we’ll invest to make domestic recycling less confusing by smoothing out differences between the policies of individual councils, and supporting comprehensive and frequent rubbish and recycling collections.
We also need consistent leadership from government. Since I became Environment Secretary, I’ve made it a central mission of my department to help turn the tide on waste. We’ve already taken action to help people move away from reliance on singleuse plastics, which have contributed so much to choking our seas. And the Chancellor’s proposed tax on plastic items that don’t contain recycled material will accelerate our switch away from single-use plastics and drive further innovation.
But we need to go further in other areas. We need to tackle the economic, moral and social scandal of food waste. Millions of pounds’ worth of safe food is thrown away when it could be redistributed to those most in need, which is why I’ve set up a new food waste reduction scheme to help retailers and restaurants donate what they don’t, or can’t, use to support charities that help the vulnerable. And in our strategy we commit to end the wasteful practice of sending food waste to landfill. We’ll introduce food waste collections across the country and make sure we harvest energy and resources from what otherwise would only generate greenhouse gases and scar the landscape.
Thanks to the work of inspirational campaigners, such as Stacey Dooley, we now know that “fast fashion” – the manufacture of clothes designed to be worn a few times before being thrown away – generates huge environmental costs. The impact on water resources and on our waste system is a growing concern. So we’ll look at extending the responsibility for dealing with that problem to the manufacturers who generate these environmental costs without taking responsibility.
Some may argue that these steps put the interests of the environment ahead of economic factors. They couldn’t be more wrong. You can’t have a healthy economy without a sustainable environment to provide the resources we all need. Using resources more wisely improves productivity. And the innovation we are seeing in our waste industry, alongside the breakthroughs manufacturers are generating in products and packaging, allows us to meet the global need for smarter solutions to the inescapable problems of waste and resource competition.
The planet needs us to do more. The waste problem is not just for Christmas. It’s for life. This strategy will help us go further, faster to delivering clean growth, innovation and a better world for our children.