A regional perspective on waste minimisation: a case study of the East Midlands of England

The UK Government’s White Paper of 1995, ‘Making Waste Work’, emphasises the role of key stakeholders in driving forward the widespread adoption of waste minimisation practice. Industry is challenged to meet a range of targets and have environmental management systems in place. The Government’s contribution is underpinned by the activities of the Environment Agency and the Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme. This article presents findings from a survey of waste minimisation developments in the East Midlands of England. Despite a national waste strategy there are clear variations in the extent of waste minimisation developments across the region. The reasons for this are many and complex and a sizeable gap exists, in many cases, between policy and its implementation. Traditionally, the UK has employed a ‘top down approach’ in which legislative decisions are taken at the centre and then executed within the constraints of the local context. The findings suggest that much greater consideration needs to be taken of local constraints if waste minimisation developments are to be successful. Well structured initiatives that have been rigorously planned and have utilised the available resources have proved very successful and significant financial savings and waste reductions have been made. Surprisingly, few of the key environmental organisations surveyed had a waste minimisation policy. There remains significant barriers to the uptake of waste minimisation programmes, especially from Small to Medium Enterprises. A number of external funding sources have been utilised by projects but future funding will probably come from the participating companies. A wide range of supporting networks exist that could be utilised in the future. There is a need for an overarching, regional organisation to co-ordinate future developments so as to avoid duplication and efficiently use all available resources.