I have to admit we are playing catch-up on waste issues at the moment. Scratch any trade association chief executive and the chances are he or she has a list of important but not pressing issues which they really want to have a look at when they get the chance. Until last year, waste was near the top of mine.
That was until we saw the report of the Green Guide Windows project. As well as producing the data on which the generic product rating is based, the report identified waste management as the main area needing improvement. This is largely through lack of evidence as to what actually happens to waste from production and at the end of life. In the absence of evidence, BRE assumes for the purposes of the analysis that the waste goes to landfill, the worst environmental option. So we need to know what happens to waste and we need to find a way to increase the amount that’s recycled and reduced the production and product waste that ends up in landfill. With landfill tax going up £8/tonne each year for the next four years, that’s a business imperative as much as an environmental one.
As we have got into waste issues, we are finding out how much has gone on without us. The Government’s 2007 waste strategy identified wood waste as a key area for action, and concluded that most wood waste would be best disposed of by burning, a conclusion supported by the Waste Wood for Biomass information report. This has led into energy policy, looking at how to use waste wood as a fuel supply ad how to ensure a long-term guaranteed supply to power stations. DEFRA is now beginning to look at how wood waste arises, what are the best ways of managing clean and contaminated timber and whether there is enough to meet the demands for fuel consumption. A ban on wood waste going to landfill has been mooted, but nothing has been finalised yet.
As it happens, the BWF has already done some work on improving recycling and waste disposal, and we have met the civil servants involved to brief them. Just as we need to know what’s going on in Government, they need to know what’s happening in industry. Not only does it avoid duplication of effort, it also ensures that policy is based on the realities of the market rather than assumptions and partial knowledge.