2degrees network

3:00 p.m. (GMT) / 11:00 a.m. (EDT)
2nd Nov. 2010

Zero Waste working group

Roger Hoare, Technical Advisor - Waste (Quality Protocols) at the Environment Agency

This webinar will discuss the Waste Protocols Project, a collaboration between the Environment Agency and WRAP.  The Project considers if and how the 'waste label' can be removed from various recycled materials.

By looking closely at each waste product, it is possible to establish if and how it can be fully recovered and turned into one or more alternative, quality products. If it can, it can lose the stigma of ‘waste’ and can present a number of potential benefits for the producer, the recycler and the end user. It encourages businesses to transform wastes into valuable resources, rather than send them to landfill.

Waste management regulations, which mainly fall under the EU Waste Framework Directive, are designed to protect human health and the environment. In doing so, however, they can impose administrative and legislative burdens on business. The legislation can also be complex and it can be difficult for businesses to establish when the wastes they produce are fully recovered and the legislation no longer applies. The Waste Protocol Project addresses these two issues.

The project is estimated to create £1 billion in business savings and increased sales of waste-derived products by 2020.  It aims to divert 17 million tonnes of waste from landfill, preserve 14 million tonnes of raw materials and avert 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions through its delivery.

For more information, please contact Izabela Stacewicz