Agencies to insist on recycling

by Jon Reeds



The Government is to pilot a scheme to make its procurement agencies insist on recycled products where possible, as part of the new national waste strategy for England and Wales.

The launch of the delayed strategy last week was overshadowed by the Government's last minute acceptance of demands by Friends of the Earth that it impose statutory recycling targets on councils for domestic waste. But contained within Waste Strategy 2000* are extensive proposals to use the Government's purchasing power to increase use of secondary materials.

"Public procurement will help increase demand for recycled goods, raising awareness of the high quality of recycled alternatives and providing secure markets for those wishing to invest in reprocessing and manufacturing recycled products," said environment minister Michael Meacher.

The pilot scheme will be run by the new Office of Government Commerce. It will concentrate initially on paper goods and then extend to other products.

The construction and demolition industries are some of the biggest creators of waste. Reliable statistics are lacking and await delayed Environment Agency research, but in 1989 it was estimated that only about 4% of the 70 million tonnes arising annually was recycled.

The Rethinking Construction agenda has highlighted waste as a key area for action because experience in other industries has repeatedly shown that minimisation can save money.

Construction has so far escaped European Union moves towards the imposition of "producer responsibility", making industries responsible for the cost of recovering their wastes, but this is unlikely to last for ever.

*Waste Strategy 2000 is available from The Stationery Office, price £30. See www.detr.gov.uk for further details.