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P  R  E  S  S      R  E  L  E  A  S  E

I July 2002

 

No fire-breathing dragons in Bedfordshire, please !

 

Luton Friends of the Earth Co-ordinator David Oakley-Hill was at Parliament last week for the launch of the Zero Waste Charter.   David is a member of the national Zero Waste Strategy Group, an alliance including FoE and Greenpeace, which has launched a 10 point charter for government and local councils.

 

It may sound optimistic, but California, Toronto, Canberra, and half of New Zealand have already adopted a Zero Waste policy. The first two local authorities to sign in England are Bath & North Somerset and Braintree, who are aiming for Zero Waste by 2020.  FoE is asking Luton and Bedfordshire to sign.

 

David said:  "The way NOT to go is to build incinerators, which produce lethal airborne dioxins and other poisons which get into food and lungs, and cause birth defects.  Incinerators, mainly run by giant French companies, leave concentrated toxic ash which is half the volume and still has to be landfilled, and tie councils into 25 year contracts which prevent recycling useful and finite materials.  They also produce greenhouse gases.  Yet Bedfordshire's Waste Strategy leaves the door open for Incinerators to be built.

What kind of sick society puts industrial interests before the health of men, women and children?"

 

"Recycling paper gives wood fibres six lives rather than one, and saves energy and raw materials.  At least 85% of what's in your dustbin is recyclable, and many local authorities abroad are already recycling and composting over 70%.  At present the UK is only recycling about 12%, far worse than most European countries.  But one authority in Essex is already recycling over 50%.  We must set high targets for door-to-door collection of separated recyclables, including green waste for composting. We must also reduce the waste we produce in the first place. One example is the Irish ban on free plastic bags from supermarkets, which has been very successful."

 

Outside Parliament, there were Incinerator Dragons, Alice in Wonderland characters to show the madness of burning useful materials, and hand-operated electric trolleys for sorting household recyclables on the pavement, which serve 30,000 households in Haringey.  Unlike refuse trucks, these don't block the road or make any noise, cost far less, and create employment.

 

David edits The WasteBook  ( www.wastebook.org ), a web directory to introduce businesses and individuals to organisations that see their waste as a valuable resource.

 

To see how harmful incinerators can be, click on the Incinerator Tour on the Greenpeace website at www.greenpeace.org.uk.

 

ENDS

 

 

Photos -

 

1)      David Oakley-Hill with Moses and the Zero Waste 10 Commandments outside Parliament.

 

2)      Fire breathing incinerator dragons go to Parliament to say that burning useful recyclable materials is madness - just Alice in Wonderland.  (Photo by David Oakley-Hill)

 

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EDITORS  - see over

 

 

The Zero Waste Charter 

 

We call on the Governments of the UK, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to end a decade of policy timidity and give a lead to the promotion of Zero Waste by adopting the following 10 point plan to transform the UK's waste economy:

 

1                     Set a target of Zero Waste for all municipal waste in the UK by 2020 (50% recycling by 2010, 75% by 2015).

2                     Extend the doorstep collection of dry recyclables to evry home in the UK without delay.

 

3                     Supplement home composting with doorstep collection of organic waste, and establish a network of local closed vessel compost plants.

 

4                     Convert civic amenity sites into re-use and recycling centres.

 

5                     Ban from 2006 the landfilling of biological waste which has not been treated and neutralised.

 

6                     End thermal treatment of mixed waste and limit disposal contracts to a maximum of ten years.

 

7                     Extend the landfill tax into a disposal tax.  Increase its level, and use it to fund the Zero Waste programmes.

 

8                     Extend Producer Responsibility legislation to all products and materials that are hazardous or difficult to recycle.

 

9                     Open up waste planning to greater public participation and end the commercial confidentiality of waste contracts.

 

10                 Establish a Zero Waste Agency to promote resource efficiency and act as a guardian of public health.