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Thank you very much for inviting me to speak at this year's annual
conference, I am delighted to be here. It is for me a welcome
opportunity to re-engage with the Association after a couple of years
dealing with other topics since leaving the Treasury in June 2001 - and
a first opportunity for me to get up to date with the industry's
concerns since taking on this responsibility at the DTI. I am
particularly pleased to see the European Federation of Waste Management
and Environmental Services involved today, and I would extend on behalf
of the Government a warm welcome to London, to those visiting the UK
from across the European Union and the Accession States.
A sustainable system of waste management has a great deal to offer to
us. I see the benefits as threefold:
- First, benefits to the environment - through protecting resources,
the ecosystem and the attractions of its natural beauty;
- Second, social benefits - improving our quality of life,
recognising that reducing environmental degradation can have
particularly strong benefits for the least well off;
- Third, benefits to the economy - because better resource
efficiency will reduce costs and also create new industrial
opportunities in environmental technology.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last year
set out a number of challenges for businesses. Accelerating the shift
towards sustainable consumption and production was one of the key
commitments.
At the end of last month my Department published jointly with the
Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, a
framework document on sustainable consumption and production. It is the
first major statement from any Government since the World Summit on how
to approach sustainable consumption and production in practice. It
focuses in particular on the correlation between economic growth and
environmental degradation, and how much further we have to go to break
that link. It makes clear our aim to decouple economic growth from
environmental degradation. We hope the framework will help us to
influence debate within the European Union and internationally. It will
also guide our actions at home through presenting a clear rationale for
future policy.
The framework does not claim to provide all the answers -
particularly not on the consumption side where the greatest challenges
arise. But it represents the important first step in a journey towards
working out how we can continue to enjoy the benefits of our modern
economy but in a sustainable way. We want to improve our quality of
life, but in ways that minimise the damage from pollution, waste and
environmental degradation.
We welcome the European Commission's thematic strategy on recycling.
That provides us with a clear agenda. Recycling has a vital role to
play. Of course, recycling itself is an industrial process whose impact
has to be addressed like any other. The Commission strategy helpfully
recognises that and accepts that optimal targets will vary between
member states. But there is no doubt that we need to do more in the UK
to encourage sustainable waste management and achieve higher levels of
recycling.
The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit published its report 'Waste Not,
Want Not' last year, and the Government's response was published in May
this year. Action has already been taken in response, in the increase of
the rate of landfill tax - a demand I was lobbied on vigorously by
members of this Association when I had responsibility for Landfill Tax
at the Treasury - and the reformation of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
These changes have led to the creation of the Waste Implementation
Programme within Defra to deliver a package of strategic measures
recommended by the report.
This will include a New Technologies programme to remove barriers to
the development of new approaches to sustainable waste management. In
recognition of its importance to successful delivery of the new
programme, the Environmental Services Association is represented on the
new Programme Steering Committee.
Support for innovation is key to our recently published strategy for
the Department of Trade and Industry, because innovation will be the key
to our future economic success in an increasingly competitive global
economy. We have supported a number of industry-led Innovation and
Growth Teams to investigate the barriers to innovation. The
Environmental Innovation and Growth team - in which the ESA took part
-reported its findings last November. It was a task force, comprising
industry, Government, and other stakeholders, and had the objective to
define actions to build the competitiveness of the environmental goods
and services sector, in both UK and overseas markets over the next 15
years. The overarching vision set out in the report was that the UK
environmental sector should strive to increase its share of global
markets, particularly through the development of a strong home market.
We want to increase our market share from its current 4.7% to 7% by
2010.
As a result of the work of the Innovation and Growth Team, my
department's Joint Environmental Markets Unit has now expanded its trade
support role to focus also on fostering long-term innovation across the
environmental goods and services sector. We have also set up an
Environmental Innovations Advisory Group, comprising representatives
from across the sector, to provide an industry view on where priority
actions are required.
Innovation has the potential to make significant contributions to
greening the economy. This industry does not need me to tell you that in
the UK we place too much reliance on landfill that adversely affects the
environment through greenhouse gas emissions, impacts on transport and
visual intrusion and potential long-term liabilities. We need to place a
higher priority on recycling and reuse and perhaps on other methods of
waste disposal too.
Across Government we are acting decisively in view of the challenges
we face with waste in the UK. One key thing to focus on from a resource
productivity perspective is the fact that the government will be
increasing the active rate of the landfill tax to £35 per tonne in the
medium to long term, encouraging efforts to minimise the amount of waste
generated and to develop more sustainable waste management techniques.
The broader, non-fiscal, regulatory framework also has a role to
play. But it has to be flexible. Where the legislation has its origins
in European Union discussions, the requirements need to reflect the
different economic structures that exist. I give high priority to
ensuring the resultant domestic regulations deliver the objectives in a
way that best suits our domestic circumstances; imposing the minimum
costs on the UK economy. That is our approach to the legislation we are
developing for waste electrical equipment which is an important topic
for many businesses, and which it is essential that we get right.
In July I received from David Arculus the report of the Better
Regulation Task Force on Environmental Regulation, advising on how we
can avoid repeating the difficulties we faced with the EU packaging
waste regulations and the fridge mountain. He called on us to be open
about when decisions will be made, to take a fresh look at our
communication with stakeholders, to be clear about what we are trying to
achieve and to make sure that there are adequate resources available for
fair and consistent advice and enforcement. We shall certainly be aiming
to take that advice on board.
Another key issue is the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
(IPPC) Directive. The UK response to the EU Communication earlier this
year points out that it is too early to make a definitive assessment of
the Directive's success in achieving its objective, but that we can see
it as a good example of environmental legislation, striking a sound
balance between environmental protection on the one hand and
safeguarding the interests of industry on the other. The Directive is
limited to setting out essential items, such as fundamental concept of
permits with installation-specific conditions, but rightly places
prescription in the hands of national competent authorities where it
belongs.
I want to highlight another area of significant potential for
innovation. Our commitment to modernising regulation is being followed
through across Government. One important area of focus is waste
management. Defra and the Environment Agency have jointly reviewed the
legislation under which the Agency works. One recommendation was for a
review of waste permitting by Defra. This will allow us to replace the
current system of Waste Management Licensing, which delivers the
relevant EU Directives on waste.
The new system will be purpose built and risk-based and will continue
to deliver the UK's obligations under the Directives by an integrated
permitting system. It will be proportionate to the risks to the
environment and to human health, and will satisfy the principles of
better regulation. The review is being carried through with extensive
informal consultation as the new permitting is being developed from
first principles. It is very important to us that key stakeholders like
this Association can have their views taken on board before policy has
been finalised.
Of course we are not working alone. Industry also has a
responsibility in working towards a more sustainable world. Its first
task should be to control its own polluting activities. It is estimated
that inefficient use of resources costs the UK manufacturing industry
£3 billion each year. There is however, a wide range of sources of help
and information already to support companies.
The Envirowise programme for example, funded by the DTI and Defra,
was established to help businesses to reduce both costs and
environmental impacts. Since its inception in 1994, we reckon that it
has helped businesses to save over £800 million. An organization
working with the programme can expect to save £1000 per employee, or
convert an additional 1% of turnover into profit.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), launched in 2000,
has helped to expand the markets for recycled products, and helped UK
businesses to take advantage of opportunities in the recycling sector.
Getting the framework right for environmental innovation will be
crucial. Next month we will publish the results of our departmental
Innovation Review. Doing more to stimulate environmental innovation and
resource productivity will be a priority.
Industry also needs to develop new ideas and new technologies to help
others to address pollution. The world market for environmental goods
and services is currently valued at $515 billion, comparable to the
aerospace or pharmaceutical industries. It has been forecast to reach
nearly $700 billion by 2010 - a growth rate of 3% per annum. We have in
the UK a significant share of this market. I know that we can achieve a
greater share still - that is an ambition we share and I hope we can
work together to achieve it.
We are confronted with an ever-increasing demand for waste management
expertise from developing and industrialising countries. Countries such
as the Accession States which must comply with EU Directives, as well as
countries as diverse as Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, China, South Korea. The
strength of this demand has been demonstrated time and again through the
work of our Joint Environmental Markets Unit around the world. It
brought 50 delegates from nine countries to the annual Chartered
Institution of Wastes Management conference and exhibition, and many
others would have been keen to come.
With that high level of worldwide demand, and the potential for
continuous innovation in technology and in resource efficiency, it is
clear that sustainable waste management has an ever-increasing role to
play in the world's largest economy. We are setting the foundations for
increased growth and innovation and we want to work with you to achieve
the high ambitions for a more sustainable future that all of us share
and which it is in the interests of every one of our citizens that we
achieve.
Thank you very much.
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