SLWP charm offensive

This week's Croydon Guardian has a four page wrap around courtesy of the South London Waste Partnership. Interestingly, none of the sister papers of the CroyGuar (Kingston, Sutton, Merton and Wimbledon) had the honour of being adorned by this charm offensive. Why was that?

Two possible reasons:

1. The Conservative Council are taking a pounding with regard to the introduction of fortnightly bin collections coupled with weekly food waste collections. Many haven't received their new food caddies or booklets detailing how the revised collection scheme works. No better time to remind those who are frustrated with the ever increasing number of bins to negotiate, with a reminder of the need for "cost effective waste management services"
2. The Stop The Incinerator campaign - a predominately Croydon based campaign, of which I am secretary, have submitted some challenging comments to the latest stage of the consultation. I still haven't received a reply to the email below. Is the SLWP using propaganda methodology to justify gasification?
   

From: shasha_khan
To: ldfprogrammeofficer@tiscali.co.uk; southlondonwasteplan@rbk.kingston.gov.uk
Subject: RE: Comments
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:42:08 +0000

Hi ,

Thank you for your reply. On exactly the same day the latest consultation ended, the EU made the statement below. It essentially says that "Energy recovery is limited to non recyclable materials.". I would like to submit this as an addendum to my first comment SC49 because the ruling has huge implications for the Waste Plan. If you decide not to accept this, will the SLWP acknowledge they will comply with the statement?

Best wishes,

Shasha

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/pdf/com2011_571.pdf

3.2. Turning waste into a resource
Each year in the European Union we throw away 2.7 billion tonnes of waste, 98 million
tonnes of which is hazardous. On average only 40% of our solid waste is re-used or recycled,
the rest going to landfill or incineration. Overall waste generation is stable in the EU,
however, generation of some waste streams like construction and demolition waste, to sewage
sludge and marine litter is still increasing. Waste electrical and electronic equipment alone is
expected to increase by roughly 11% between 2008 and 2014.

In some Member States more than 80% of waste is recycled, indicating the possibilities of
using waste as one of the EU’s key resources. Improving waste management makes better use

of resources and can open up new markets and jobs, as well as encourage less dependence on
imports of raw materials and lower impacts on the environment.

If waste is to become a resource to be fed back into the economy as a raw material, then much
higher priority needs to be given to re-use and recycling. A combination of policies would
help create a full recycling economy, such as product design integrating a life-cycle approach,
better cooperation along all market actors along the value chain, better collection processes,
appropriate regulatory framework, incentives for waste prevention and recycling, as well as
public investments in modern facilities for waste treatment and high quality recycling.

Milestone: By 2020, waste is managed as a resource. Waste generated per capita is in
absolute decline. Recycling and re-use of waste are economically attractive options for
public and private actors due to widespread separate collection and the development of
functional markets for secondary raw materials. More materials, including materials
having a significant impact on the environment and critical raw materials, are recycled.
Waste legislation is fully implemented. Illegal shipments of waste have been eradicated.
Energy recovery is limited to non recyclable materials, landfilling is virtually eliminated
and high quality recycling is ensured.

The Commission will:
• Stimulate the secondary materials market and demand for recycled materials through
economic incentives and developing end-of-waste criteria (in 2013/2014);
• Review existing prevention, re-use, recycling, recovery and landfill diversion targets
to move towards an economy based on re-use and recycling, with residual waste
close to zero (in 2014);
• Assess the introduction of minimum recycled material rates, durability and reusability
criteria and extensions of producer responsibility for key products (in
2012);
• Assess areas where legislation on the various waste streams could be aligned to
improve coherence (in 2013/2014);
• Continue working within the EU and with international partners to eradicate illegal
waste shipments with a special focus on hazardous waste;
• Ensure that public funding from the EU budget gives priority to activities higher up
the waste hierarchy as defined in the Waste Framework Directive (e.g. priority to
recycling plants over waste disposal) (in 2012/2013);
• Facilitate the exchange of best practice on collection and treatment of waste among
Member States and develop measures to combat more effectively breaches of EU
waste rules (in 2013/2014).

Member States should:
• ensure full implementation of the EU waste acquis including minimum targets
through their national waste prevention and management strategies (continuous).

=

--------------------------------------------------
Tags croydon, greenparty