More investment needed if waste targets are to be met

Steve Lee, chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM), has called for a radical change in the infrastructure and practices of waste management in the UK to meet the government's waste targets.

Speaking at a JCB Waste Day, Lee said that while there is a growing trend to recover materials, the UK is still in the habit of sending waste to landfill. "Our performance and infrastructure tends to lag well behind leaders in resource management in Europe," he said.

The government is currently considering setting a target to halve the amount of construction, demolition and excavation wastes going to landfill by 2012, and cut construction waste to landfill to zero by 2020 as part of the Waste Strategy for England. But Lee said these targets would not be met without considerable investment in infrastructure and waste facilities.

He said an important start had already been made in this "resource revolution", with the number and type of waste facilities changing fast, but stressed that further work was required.

"We need more transfer facilities to help move materials from source to treatments and many more waste treatment plants - of all types and sizes," he said. "And to meet changes like landfill diversion under the Landfill, Batteries and WEEE Directives, we need to build more than one new treatment plant a week."

He said that he knew of a number of construction companies that were likely to reach zero-waste well before 2020, but to meet the challenge of the proposed national waste strategy "nearly 100 actions" were required to meet the tough targets.

"This needs skills, resources including capital, available land and - of course - planning permission," he said.

The deadline for comments on the government's Waste Strategy for England is 26 October 2007.