The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has released a progress report on its Waste Prevention Programme for England.

The ‘Waste prevention programme for England: “One year on” newsletter’ provides a summary of progress over the past year on some of the main actions highlighted in the Waste Prevention Programme for England, which was published in December 2013 (and was met with ‘disappointment’ from the waste and resources industry).

Resource Minister Dan Rogerson is quoted in the newsletter as saying: “Preventing waste before it is even created not only protects the environment but also makes good business sense.”

Fulfilled commitments

Touching on its commitment to develop an £800,000, two-year scheme to support communities (working in partnership with local businesses, authorities and civil society groups) to take forward innovative waste prevention, reuse and repair actions in their local areas, Defra outlines that it launched its Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund in May 2014 (which is being run in three phases), and has since announced the 10 projects which will receive funding under phase 1. The second phase is open to applications until 6 February 2015, and details of Phase 3 will be published in 2015.

Other fulfilled commitments include:

• the development of a Sustainable Electricals Action Plan, aimed at ‘catalysing sector action and seeking commitment on design for longer life’, and increased technical durability;
• the investment of £1.2 million over the period 2013-15 in the Action Based Research Programme that tests new, sustainable business approaches such as sharing Resource Efficiency Managers, product service systems and collaborative consumption models;
• revising government procurement standards, to ensure government buys more resource-efficient products and services;
• the launch of the electronic duty of care (edoc) system, which went live in January 2014; and
• the launch of the third phase of the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement with the grocery sector that aims to reduce household food and drink waste arisings, decrease packaging waste, and boost recycling and the development of a longer-term commitment programme, Courtauld 2025.

Commitments yet to come into effect

Defra also notes that its commitment to ‘reduce plastic bag distribution by mandating a five-pence charge on single-use plastic carrier bags in England by autumn 2015’ has also been met, as it is scheduled to come into effect in England in October 2015. (However, small and medium businesses will be exempt from the charge to ‘reduce the administrative burden on start-up and growing businesses in England’.)

Other commitments that are yet to come into effect include:

• the development of an action plan to address barriers to reuse and repair (a discussion paper on which was recently circulated to stakeholders), which is expected sometime in the ‘New Year’;
• the launch of the Waste & Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) web-based postcode locator to provide a ‘practical tool’ to enable householders to find their local recycling, reuse and repair services. The recycling aspect of the tool is due to be launched ‘early next year’, with reuse services being added ‘by April 2015’. Options for including repair services within the tool will reportedly be ‘considered in 2015/16’.
• the launch of WRAP’s collection of resources and support (including ‘how-to’ guides, videos, written case studies, and workshop events) to support businesses and local authorities in addressing waste prevention and reuse, which is set for release ‘in early 2015’; and
• the development of a household Waste Prevention Hub to help councils calculate and monitor the benefits of waste prevention activity.

Government has also said that following consultation with stakeholders, it has identified a suite of metrics that will help demonstrate how waste arisings have changed over time, and how waste prevention activity has impacted on that. These metrics (details of which have not yet been revealed) will be used as indicators to track progress, the results of which will be published annually. It added that it will ‘continue to work with stakeholders on further development of metrics’, including measurement of social impacts.

'Catch all' reuse standard may not be developed

Despite the waste prevention programme for England committing to establish a reuse standard that would 'help show that products on offer have been subjected to a quality assured process' (in a bid to encourage consumer confidence in used goods) and WRAP consulting on the matter in September 2013, there is no mention of the standard in the progress report.

When contacted by Resource for an update, a WRAP spokesperson said that this may no longer be the 'most effective way of promoting consumer confidence in the wider reuse sector'.

The WRAP spokesperson said: "Following consultation, we are considering the possibility that a catch-all standard might not be the most effective way of promoting consumer confidence in the wider reuse sector. We are currently exploring other options to address product quality and consumer perceptions that are more flexible and better recognise the diversity of the re-use economy."

Read the ‘Waste prevention programme for England: “One year on” newsletter’.