BoJo sets out vision to exploit London's waste
London's mayor publishes draft municipal waste strategy, "London's Wasted Resource"
20 Jan 2010
Better recycling facilities for people living in flats and projects to save millions of pounds were part of major proposals to tackle the London’s rubbish mountain published earlier this week by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, along with proposals to improve the environment and cut carbon.
‘London’s Wasted Resource’, the mayor’s draft municipal waste strategy, contains measures to work with the boroughs to boost London’s recycling rates, to embrace less polluting waste technologies, make more money from waste, ensure streets are cleaner ahead of 2012 and save up to £90 million per year.
According to the mayor’s office, London produces four million tonnes of municipal waste every year and although the city’s recycling rate is steadily improving, it is still the lowest of all English regions and compares badly to other international cities.
By 2015, Johnson said he wants the capital to be recycling at least 45% of its municipal waste with this rising to 60% by 2031, sending zero municipal waste to landfill by 2025. With landfill rates set to increase from current associated costs of around £245 million to £307 million by 2013, these proposals seek to help boroughs to minimise pressure on future council tax bills. Johnson said: “I want to work with borough councils to harvest the massive economic potential coming from London’s waste both to save money off the city’s bills and to improve our environment.
“This will be achieved through reducing the mounds of waste generated in the
first place and expanding on the emerging trend for the reuse of household items through networks such as Freecycle.”
The draft strategy includes proposals such as reducing and preventing waste. With a rising population, the mayor said he is committed “to ensuring growth does not result in an increase in household waste and is proposing a 20% reduction in the amount produced per household by 2031 equalling approximately 40,000 tonnes a year”.
Other proposals include the reuse of waste materials. This comprises developing a strategic reuse network across London to ensure people have access to organisations that repair items or help people pass items on to others.
The mayor also promised to work with boroughs to provide incentives for Londoners to recycle and compost. He said he wants to work with partners including the private sector to provide ‘on the go’ recycling bins;
The strategy also suggested that support moves away from old-style, polluting waste disposal methods by boosting the use of cleaner, low carbon methods to produce greener energy from waste such as CHP, anaerobic digestion, gasification and pyrolysis.
The Mayor’s draft municipal waste strategy is open to consultation with London Assembly and GLA functional bodies such as Transport for London until 15 March 2010.