Richard Kirkman, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Veolia UK and Ireland said:
“In times of economic growth waste has reduced showing we are finally decoupling growth and waste. It’s good to see recycling figures are on the increase without any new incentives put in place over the last 10 years. That’s why DEFRA came forward in 2018/19 with the most progressive and exciting Resources and Waste strategy for a decade. This proposed strategy will deliver something which is both popular with the electorate as well as a significant win for pressing on to solve the climate emergency. A new dawn of awareness for recyclable materials is upon us, one where we finally transform the landscape with real scalable deliverable circular economy solutions, everyone moving to schemes like the recycling of 300million plastic bottles in East London or 100,000 tonnes of glass in St Helens straight back into raw materials.
“Veolia welcome the proposals put forward in the last year and we call to action all those businesses that have a wastestream they don’t currently recycle or a product they haven’t designed for recycling to welcome this transformation, support the Government’s agenda around waste and resources and allow a level playing field for all companies to deliver their sustainable ambitions. We need design of products and packaging to allow better choices to be made, we need new infrastructure – and our sector is ready to inject £10b, and we need consumers to be given the most convenient and cost effective choice as also the best planet choice. I can’t see any reason we wouldn’t do this now.”
