Plan for sustainable waste management

The key to more efficient recovery of materials is the greater segregation and sorting of waste at (or close to) its source by households and businesses.

Photo by Lorraine Farrely

These need to be convenient to use and should not dominate the urban environment. Making space for waste management is therefore a priority in planning and design. New houses, schools, hospitals, commercial buildings and public spaces need to be designed with this in mind. Similar facilities need to be retrofitted into existing buildings and spaces. DEFRA and CABE have produced guidance on the design of waste facilities.

Local authorities also need to plan for a network of facilities for storing, sorting, reprocessing and treatment of waste materials and businesses need to invest in and develop them. The Environment Agency predicts that 15 million tonnes of new waste processing capacity is needed in England to achieve EU landfill reduction targets.

The Waste Resources Action Plan (WRAP) offers support and guidance to help local authorities improve their recycling and waste reduction practices, including examples of effective communication and how to address complex inter-related characteristics that affect participation.

WRAP is also the single point of contact for support to construction businesses to manage waste in the construction process. The construction industry produces around 120 million tonnes of waste per year. About 13 per cent of this is new, unused material. Currently only half of the waste is being recycled or reclaimed.

Advice about planning for sustainable waste management