SUEZ recycling and recovery has launched its ‘manifesto’ for resource productivity and the company believes it forms the basis of a comprehensive strategy that could see £9 billion added to the UK economy.
The manifesto urges the UK Government to intervene setting out 22 bold new policy asks to make the UK a sustainable economy after Brexit.
The manifesto covers the origins of waste, how materials are handled, collected, processed and treated, setting out its view on the responsibility of producers to maximise the resource efficiency of their products.
As well as backing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for “on-the-go” packaging and more comprehensive waste reduction targets, SUEZ calls for more recycled content in better-designed packaging, smarter data collection, greater collaboration with business, and a new government department to identify key materials and substances essential for the future of the environment and the economy.
The document, ‘A vision for England’s long-term resources and waste strategy’, commissioned by SUEZ, also suggests that products should display a standard form of environmental labelling.
The paper also reveals the findings of new YouGov polling around public perceptions of litter, showing 24 per cent of Britons think that sandwich packaging or fast food containers are the main cause of litter, while 18 per cent believe it to be crisp packets or confectionary items and 14 per cent think plastic bottles are to blame.
“We believe new data systems are also needed to track materials from the point of production, to sale, to the bin and back into production from cradle-to-cradle, not grave,” said David Palmer-Jones, UK Chief Executive at SUEZ recycling and recovery.
“Weighing individual businesses and households’ residual waste through a “chip-and-bin” system will help gather this data and could enable more “pay-as-you throw” regimes, helping households and businesses which recycle well to reduce their council taxes or waste collection bills.”
Palmer-Jones added: “The UK Government has a golden opportunity to kick-start this resource revolution when we leave the EU and create a sustainable, world-leading, new economic base and we believe our manifesto provides the tools to seize that opportunity.”