LARAC 2009Where have we come from –

recycling over the last 20 years

Ray Georgeson

Ray Georgeson Resources

Resource and waste industry professionals specialising in policy and strategy, communications, research, facilitation and stakeholder engagement

Working with local authorities, UK Government and its agencies, the private and third sectors, European Commission, NGOs and other European governments

Knowledge across the spectrum of resource efficiency, climate change, resources management and sustainable development

Based in the North, but with an international perspective

Twenty years in ten minutes There was life (and recycling ) before 1989

1989 as a trigger point for environmental awareness

European and UK strategies & initiatives

Targets, techniques and technologies

Education and communication

OK, so none of it is new really

The Eighties

Pioneering community sector on kerbside recycling

Local voluntary groups and environmental activists

First Recycling Officers

Launch of Waste Watch and LARAC

Stuff like this was big news…

1989 and the Green voteEuro-elections 1989 Green Party receives 2.3m votes (15%) but no seats

Politicians vied for ‘greenness’

Environment White Paper

1990 Environmental Protection Act

25% recycling target

The early Nineties Recycling targets were ‘aspirational’

Leadership from a small number of local authorities

Recycling Officers a growing breed

Some investments in reprocessing capacity e.g. Aylesford

Community sector growing nationwide and a leader in recycling service in SW

Encouraging words from Government, but little in terms of real policy drivers

The mid Nineties – Europe and new LabourEndless policy documents and initiatives from DoE – Making Waste Work, Producer Responsibility for packaging, Watch Your Waste Week, Recycling City etc etc

Landfill Tax introduced 1996 by Tories, practically implemented by Labour

Landfill Tax Credits Scheme (LTCS) – a fountain of ideas and initiatives

To the Millennium

Many good LTCS projects – research, education, policy, community projects

Some duplication and lack of co-ordination and strategy

Local authorities had patchy benefits from LTCS

Steady increases in Landfill Tax, but not enough

2000 and beyondEU Landfill Directive first and foremost

The rise of Market Development

Waste Strategy 2000 – the first statutory targets for local authorities

Creation of WRAP in 2001

2000/01 we were still at 11.2% recycling rate

The NoughtiesFiscal instruments – LATS, increased Landfill Tax, PFI

Producer responsibility – WEEE, ELV, batteries, tyres

Early review of WS2000 – the Cabinet Office report

Reform of LTCS and investment through WRAP and others in local authority support, communications, retail and packaging innovation, waste minimisation and home composting

Councils competing for Defra and WRAP funds for projects

More initiatives

Increased pace of activity – new recycling schemes, plant and reprocessing

The growth of organics – collection and treatment – chasing the targets

The use of social marketing and more investment in communications

A growing and diversifying sector

Beyond the traditional waste management role

Increased challenge of diverting waste to many other uses is growing a bigger sector with expertise in logistics, social marketing, finance, research and evaluation, engineering and many other skills

Development of more training and higher education, growth of professional bodies, trade media, industry awards schemes, research and consulting firms, ‘new’ sectors such as organics – all have transformed the recycling sector in 20 years

Different ideas of progress..Pace has been hectic, progress on recycling has improved in recent years, so much has been achieved

Lots of issues – haphazard implementation of producer responsibility, waste/non-waste, collection and processing systems for recyclables, the challenge of getting beyond 35% to 50% and more, the affordability of PFI, the growth of energy from waste – choose some more!

The joy of developing strategy..

Farming looks easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield.

Dwight D Eisenhower

Where are we going to?Is it getting harder to achieve higher levels of recycling? What more can be done to engage the public?

How will we engage properly with the climate change agenda and the role of carbon in resources management?

What more can Government do?

Are technologies such as energy from waste options crowding out new recycling initiatives?

Thank you

Ray Georgeson Resources Ltd2 Garnett Villas, North Avenue, OTLEY, West Yorkshire,LS21 1AJ

Telephone: +44 (0) 1943 463680Mobile: +44 (0) 7711 069433E-mail: ray@raygeorgesonresources.co.ukWebsite: www.raygeorgesonresources.co.uk