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Government calls for resource efficiency
Andrea Height
04 Nov 2009
The UK has been living in a bubble of consumption that is about to
burst, warned Environment secretary Hilary Benn. Speaking at the Waste
& Resources Action Programme’s annual conference, themed on
Resource Efficiency, he said it was important to convey to people what
resource efficiency meant.
“It’s about making and doing things as efficiently as possible and
making them in the first place so they don’t break…it’s about having a
system in place where if you don’t need anything anymore, it goes to
somewhere where it is needed,” he said.
“In truth we have been living in a 50-year bubble where we take,
consume and chuck without a thought of the consequences - and that
bubble is in the process of bursting. Why? Because there are more of us
and we are running out of stuff.”
Benn argued that carrying on like this did not make business sense. “We
need to change the way we design, use and sell things and change our
habits, to address and repair the damage that has been done.”
To do this, he said a better understanding of the consequences of our
actions was needed, something WRAP’s new report ‘Meeting the UK Climate
change challenge: The contribution of resource efficiency’, helped to
do.
WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin described the new report as
“ground-breaking research” that looked at how the UK can meet
challenging climate change targets. The UK Government’s Climate Change
Act (2008) commits the UK to reducing its territorial GHG emissions by
80% by 2050 from 1990 levels. WRAP’s report suggests making better use
of our natural resources could contribute as much as 10% of this
target. It found that in terms of consumer emissions, including those
from imports, resource efficiency could reduce these by 8% by 2050.
“In the run up to Copenhagen, this research has an important message.
It shows that resource efficiency could prove a secret weapon as it
allows immediate action to meet pressing and challenging targets,”
Goodwin said.
To seize the opportunities from resource efficiency, Benn called for a
shift in behaviour. “We need to learn to count in two new ways: carbon
and greenhouse gases and live within the earth’s natural resources. We
are overdrawing at the carbon and greenhouse gas bank and the natural
environment bank – and we can’t go into an overdraft with these,” he
warned.
Benn said it was “crazy” that food waste was going to landfill and said
the Government had “done its bit” by doubling Renewable Obligation
Certificates in April for anaerobic digestion and publishing the
Environment Agency Quality Protocol for AD digestate. “So get on with
it and take that food waste and start making energy and less greenhouse
gases. Frankly, this technology is waiting to take off,” he said.
Cost savings and opportunities for businesses taking a low carbon
approach were also highlighted by Benn. “There are opportunities here
in the UK in the low carbon and environmental goods and services, where
we currently have just over 3% of the global market. This will grow as
consumers become increasingly environmentally aware and companies
realise that waste is just a resource in another form. Sustainability
is the key not only to the environment but to business success,” he
said.
To help push this message, Defra has launched a campaign: ‘Saving money
– it’s your business’ which flags up how simple environmental steps can
turn into cost savings for businesses. Practical advice for businesses
is given, and a booklet, ‘Can you afford not to?’ shows examples of
best business practice for a low carbon economy
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