Dulux paint manufacturer AzkoNobel today (10 June) called for standardisation of waste management in the UK, as part of its submission to the UK Manufacturing Commission’s Inquiry into Industrial Sustainability.
The call comes in part of a wider ranging petition urging UK policymakers to ‘create a new and bold national policy to increase the use of renewable or other low-carbon energy sources, in order to cut C02 emissions and turn recycling paint into a viable business activity’.
Specifically, the company wants the UK government to introduce a broader range of incentives for UK manufacturers to invest in on-site renewables and improve energy efficiency, supplemented by a policy of ‘positive discrimination’ in favour of green procurement by government departments.
According to the company, approximately 55 million litres of paint and 90 million paint cans are sent to landfill or incinerated annually, but that this would be better treated through the creation of a ‘closed-loop’ recycling system that would allow unwanted paint to be reprocessed into new paint products.
It argues that such a system will only be possible if the UK adopts a ‘more joined-up approach to waste management’, consolidated at the national level, ‘as is the cast in most other European countries’.
UK waste management infrastructure ‘peculiarly fragmented’
AzkoNobel’s Global Sustainability Manager David Cornish said: “The waste management infrastructure in the UK is peculiarly fragmented, compared with many other European countries. In order to gain access to this waste paint, we might have to make agreements with 433 different authorities in the UK. That makes it impossible to offer consistent advice to consumers on recycling waste paint.
“The current totally devolved model means that progress in this area is much harder to achieve in the UK than in other countries. Standardisation would save costs, reducing the barriers for recycling some materials and would speed up progress towards a circular economy.”
UK government faces ‘mounting pressure’ to grow the green economy
AkzoNobel’s call comes amid mounting pressure on the new Conservative government to focus on growing the green economy. Yesterday (9 June), the heads of more than 80 major businesses published an open letter in the Financial Times calling on David Cameron to seek a strong climate deal in Paris, set an ‘ambitious' carbon budget for 2028-2032, and ‘establish a long-term framework for investment in the low-carbon economy’.
The Resource Association (RA), moreover, last month called on David Cameron to adapt his ideas for ‘blue-collar Conservatism’ into ‘green-collar Conservatism for the green economy’. Earlier today (10 June), the RA was among seven trade associations that wrote to Resource Minister Rory Stewart, offering ‘help [to] turn [England’s stalling waste management] situation around’.
Read the AkzoNobel Submission to the Manufacturing Commission.
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