David Miliband Secretary of State for the Environment Defra Nobel House 17 Smith Square LONDON SW1P 3JR
11th June 2007
Dear Secretary of State,
Re: Lack of Recycling in the UK – why is the successful Green Dot approach not used here?
I am writing to you today because of my increasing concern regarding waste management and the recycling infrastructure in this country – or rather the lack thereof.
Compared with other EU member states the UK is trailing behind by at least a decade in terms of recycling awareness, appropriate waste collection, recycling infrastructure and enforcement of the EU Directive on Waste and Waste Packaging. While other EU governments have given clear guidance to industry and residents, the labour government has failed to put in place an overarching framework that would help organise and regulate waste management and recycling. Individual councils are left to their own devices and are struggling to meet targets or find viable collection approaches.
Countries with successful recycling quotas, such as Germany, Belgium or Austria, are operating the Green Dot approach which finances waste collection and recycling after the producer/polluter pays principle. 21 EU countries are using it, but the UK went down an alternative, ‘free-market’ route. Over a decade later the failure of this route is glaringly obvious: while Germany is sending no more waste from household collections to landfill, the UK is still dumping 27 million tonnes of rubbish and is fast running out of landfill sites.
The question is: Why does the UK government not look at ‘Best Practice’ examples abroad, select the best and implement it here? The wheel does not need to be reinvented time and again – a tried-and-tested system exists – all that’s needed is the will to act and implement it.
Latest media reports talk about ‘penalising’ consumers/householders for not separating waste or charging higher rates as part of your very own proposed ‘pay-as-you-throw’ scheme. As a consumer I have no influence whatsoever on how goods are packaged – and with all the best effort in the world I would also find it difficult to only purchase products with little or no packaging at all. What’s even more frustrating, the shampoo bottle that I have bought for instance, could be recycled and brought back into the loop, if only somebody would collect it from me. The onus cannot fall on consumers alone. Producers are already legally obliged to ‘Take-Back’ the waste they are producing or organise the recycling via compliance operators. However, neither the Producer Pays Obligation nor the Consumer Information Obligation are applied or enforced at all, resulting in a free for all and leaving behind a mess.
My attached exposé identifies the differences between the UK and the Green Dot recycling approaches, and clearly shows the relative simplicity of use of the latter system for consumers, the incentives it creates for industry not to over-package, and its vast potential to create jobs and yield profits for industry, not to mention cutting emissions and saving virgin resources.
The really puzzling bit is that the Green Dot graces most product packaging in this country, too – one only needs to open the fridge or look through one’s cupboards – and that a licence fee is charged through VALPAK. According to VALPAK this is to protect the trademark from ‘misuse’; but with the government’s blessing this is exactly what is being done here, since the trademark’s original meaning and purpose is to indicate that the producer has made a financial contribution to the recycling of the packaging item bearing the symbol per tonnage of the said packaging. In the UK this is not the case. I would like to know why not?
Recycling does not have to be a chore or major headache and the good results in other countries attest to this. But a concerted effort is needed to bring the UK up to par and to create a general recycling culture – most people are willing to participate, in fact they are probably tired of feeling helpless amidst the sea of grim climate change reports and may feel they are being denied their right to do their bit for the environment.
With regard to the above I would greatly welcome your comments. I would also be only too pleased to assist with any further research, particularly in German-speaking countries/organisations or the development of a recycling awareness campaign. The information I managed to collate so far can be viewed on my website: www.pointmade.co.uk.
With the renewed pledge at the recent G8 summit to cap emissions the resolution of Britain’s waste problem is of vital importance.
Thank you for your attention and I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Martina Heintke
Enc
Letter to Andrew George, MP for St Ives 12.06.2007
Andrew George First Floor Knights’ Yard Belgravia Street Penzance Cornwall TR18 2EL
Dear Mr George,
Re: Lack of recycling in the UK – why is the successful Green Dot approach not used here?
In the wake of news reports that branded Britain the ‘dustbin of Europe’ early this year I researched waste management in this country and other EU member states.
Since February I have been trying to raise awareness about my findings, which showed that a successful solution in form of the Green Dot approach, which 21 other EU member states agreed to use, is unfortunately not in operation in this country. The comparison of recycling figures between the UK and other EU countries speaks volumes.
The media seems more interested in reporting on the negatives and failures, it does not seem to be interested in the solution. I have therefore now written to David Miliband at government level and also to Mike Toms, our local Recycling and Refuse Manager at Penwith District Council, copies of these letters I enclose for your information.
I am particularly concerned about the lack of plastics recycling – made from oil plastics is a highly valuable resource of a fossil fuel that is getting scarce, on top of which it lingers in landfill for hundreds of years as it does not biodegrade.
As a member of parliament for the opposition I would like you to ask the government why it is failing to tackle the waste problem, when a ‘best practice’ example exists for which tried-and-tested figures are available. One can perhaps understand the reluctance to embrace the single currency, but why shun the Green Dot and leave local councils to try and figure out how to solve an issue that clearly benefits from clear national guidelines? We have recently heard scary reports about rat and fly infestations, impending tax increases or fines for failing to recycle. The government is portraying itself as the global leader on climate change, setting ambitious and even ‘binding’ targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but could not even meet the more modest targets set at European level. There certainly is no clear leadership on this issue.
I would further like you to ask them, why they have vested VALPAK with the task of charging a licence fee for the use of the Green Dot trademark, when the trademark is not used as a financing symbol as intended by its originators which a) could be classed as an infringement of trademark law, b) what the licence fee income is used for when the proper use is being ignored, and c) why the Producer/Polluter Pays Principle is not being enforced or applied, given that the government set a ludicrous 2-million-pound turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging per year threshold before companies become obligated?
My attached article “Make Haste, Stop Waste” will clarify the above questions and further information can also be found on my website: www.pointmade.co.uk.
By now I have collected three bags full of recyclable plastics that I cannot get myself to throw into the normal rubbish bin, knowing that it could and should be reused. Some 70% of it bears the Green Dot symbol. Since the retailer is legally obliged to take-back their packaging, should I just dump it on Tesco’s doorstep, given that’s where most of it came from?
Please also see the AOL news report from the 7th June about findings by Which? consumer group about consumers being unable to recycle their commonly used packaging, urging them to complain to their local councils.
The Green Dot neatly addresses many of the problems that waste management entails, but it cannot be done without the political will, both at local and national level.
I very much hope you will support me in this and am available for further discussions or information.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Letter to Richard Branson, 01.05.2007
Sir Richard Branson Virgin Earth Challenge 120 Campden Hill Road LONDON W8 7AR
Dear Sir Richard,
Re: Climate Change – Replacing Virgin Materials With Recyclables
I am writing to you today to enlist your help as the global entrepreneur with the most vocal and declared desire to combat climate change and as the former “litter tsar” charged with “keeping Britain tidy” under the Thatcher government during the 80s.
In the early days of the so-called ‘throwaway society’ keeping Britain tidy was a sensible target. These days, however, just binning rubbish is totally inadequate for one of the major industrial countries in the world. As a G8 member, Britain should not be lagging behind other European states by 15 years or more in terms of waste management and sustainable economic development.
Despite its rhetoric the Labour Government is not a “leader on climate change”, as it has done very little indeed to encourage ‘green attitudes’. It has failed to put in place appropriate guidelines and the infrastructure to allow industry to seize the opportunities that waste management, recycling and reprocessing of waste into secondary raw materials present. Reducing landfill quotas and using recyclables instead of virgin resources represents a major wedge in the cake of carbon emissions and must therefore form part and parcel of the global cure for climate change.
In light of the Virgin Earth Challenge, which seeks to reward a major new technological breakthrough for cutting carbon emissions, I would like to make the following business proposal for the interim period while we are waiting for the “silver bullet”:
to use the Virgin Earth Challenge funds that are available today to make use of existing recycling and reprocessing technologies, which have been tried-and-tested and yield good results in other EU countries,thereby taking urgent action and cutting greenhouse gas emissions now, while at the same time creating jobs and generating profits that can flow back into the Virgin Earth Challenge fund, potentially even increasing it.
Plastics recycling and drink carton recycling are notoriously weak in Britain, where few processing facilities exist. The many different types of plastic make this a more costly and time-consuming material to process, but one that is most urgent as plastics take an eternity to break down and are made from oil, a natural resource that is becoming … – well, as owner of Virgin Atlantic you know the rest already! As for the latter, 4 billion aseptic cartons, i.e. drink boxes are sold in the UK every year, of which only 1% was recycled in 2003 – by comparison, Luxembourg recycled 97% of its drink cartons, and Belgium and Germany 68% and 65% respectively, the EU average was 28%.
The methane from landfill is 21 times more hazardous to the atmosphere than CO2 – yet another reason why recycling and bringing waste back into the loop is imperative.
With the earth’s climate heating up and Britain running out of landfill space in less than 10 years the need for uniform and structured waste management across the entire country is vital. The Green Dot Approach used in 21 European countries guarantees and finances recycling in Europe. I have investigated the differences of this approach with the UK system and attach a copy of my investigation, Make Haste, Stop Waste, for your information.
The task at hand requires the strategic setting up of the different processing plants across the geographical space of the UK to minimise emissions from transport,country-wide kerbside collections that collect all material waste stream types from private householdsencouraging public participation by educating the public on how to separate their waste and fostering a green cultureraising the eco-brand image, i.e. raising the profile of recycled materials and products as having an added value, thereby stimulating the market for reprocessed materials.
Just 5 ‘Tetra Pak’ reprocessing plants across the country would take care of all the drink cartons discarded each year in the UK. That’s a hell of a load not being dumped into the ground, producing climate changing gases. If the Green Dot was applied as it should be, recycling would be paid for by consumers at the point of purchase, companies would meet their ‘producer pays’ obligations and waste would become the valuable resource and asset that it deserves to be.
Sir Richard, I believe you have the will power, the business acumen, and it seems, also the funds, to turn things around in the UK. I also think that your influence could well jolt the British government to change its course. But that’s not the half of it, as waste management is needed globally – the market potential for Virgin Recyclables truly is global.
And finally, a small change resulting in a huge reduction of unnecessary ‘waste’ concerns mobile phones and their chargers, something you could help with more easily and directly. 15 million mobile phones are bought each year in the UK and 58 million in Europe – each one comes with a charger, every single time. This is absolutely superfluous and if one charger would fit every brand and model, all a person would ever need is one charger for life. Neither Nokia, nor Virgin, Sony Ericsson or Motorola gain any competitive advantage or profit from the charger, so it really does not make any sense to literally swamp the world with adapters. There are several in my household already, not knowing where to recycle or responsibly dispose of them, they pile up in a shoebox …
I hope I have awakened the old “Mr Tidyman” in you again and would welcome the opportunity to discuss my ideas in more detail. If you absolutely cannot see yourself working in ‘litter’ again, I would be grateful if you could help me get in touch with people who do, or who would help me bring the above issues to a wider audience.
Thank you for your time, attention and support and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
