Category Archives: Resource stewardship

Why the UK could soon face recycling chaos

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9941576975_eabcc2a873_kIn 2013, China sent shock waves through the recycling world in the west by launching Operation Green Fence, a campaign that rejected at least 800,000 tonnes of substandard recyclable waste imports and withdrew 247 import licenses. This focused minds in the UK, because we have grown dependent on exports of low quality recyclate, which our producer responsibility system accidentally encourages. Unfortunately, no lasting action was taken to fix the problem, and now things look set to get much worse. Read more

Why hasn’t the sharing revolution taken off?

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2016 Library of Things Launch-22This post is by Libby Peake, senior policy adviser on resources at Green Alliance.

Perhaps the favourite statistic of those advocating for more sharing in our economy is that the average power drill is used for only 12 or 13 minutes over the entire course of its lifetime. This is especially significant as millions of new household power drills are sold in the UK each year, and then simply gather dust in sheds up and down the country. To people thinking about better use of resources, it seems like there’s an obvious problem here, as well as an obvious solution: a nation stockpiling power tools that are hardly ever used ought to share them more. Read more

Resource efficiency will improve UK competitiveness

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Paul Ekins (c) SERI polfreeThis post is by Professor Paul Ekins OBE, director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London.

There are many reasons to increase resource efficiency in an economy like the UK’s. Among them are the need to reduce pressure on natural resources in a world with growing populations and economies; to reduce the vulnerability to imported material’s supply shocks and price volatility; and to avoid the environmental impacts of natural resource extraction, even where they occur outside the UK. Read more

Low carbon development is a chance to rebalance our economy

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1507TUCPNowak072This post is by Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary of the TUC.

Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the planet. But, for many working people, it can seem a remote issue; one not directly related to their everyday lives. That’s why the TUC is keen to draw the links between tackling climate change and some of the other major themes of our campaign work: rebalancing our economy; investing in the UK’s physical and social infrastructure; and ensuring working people are not asked to pay the price for Brexit.

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Industrial strategy and clean growth must go hand-in-hand

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Carolyn Fairbairn WEF versionThis post is by Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI.

Technology is changing the world around us at an unprecedented rate. The Internet of Things, the sharing economy, 5G and autonomous vehicles will all change the way we live and work. At the same time, Brexit is going to have a profound impact on our politics and the way the UK works and trades with Europe and the rest of the world.

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We are approaching a critical tipping point for investors

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Committee on Climate Change portraits - 24/9/08.This post is by Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng, chair of the Committee on Climate Change’s Adaptation Sub-Committee. It is written in a personal capacity.

We are approaching a climate change tipping point, one that I am eagerly awaiting. With all of the political changes going on in the UK and around the world, I just hope this one doesn’t get delayed. Read more

Cleaning up the oceans is not a solution to the plastic problem

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Polluted watersThis blog was first posted on EurActiv.

Plastics have brought huge benefits to our society. But with those benefits come environmental problems. Too often, plastic ends up as waste, as marine litter polluting the oceans, or as litter on our beaches.

Lightweight, durable, and low cost plastics have transformed the products we make and consume, becoming ubiquitous through their convenience and adaptability.

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What resource efficiency can do for the industrial strategy

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Worker at milling machine in workshop.This post is by Dr Colin Church, CEO of CIWM, the leading institution for resources and waste management, and the new chair of the Circular Economy Task Force.  

I am delighted to become the chair of the Circular Economy Task Force at such a critical moment for resources policy. 2017 has much for us to get our teeth into. The task force’s next phase of work will have two important strands: the implications of Brexit for the resource sector and the importance of resource productivity for the UK’s industrial strategy. As I recently blogged on the former for CIWM, I will focus on resource productivity here. Read more

Why environmentalists should be excited by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

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Factory platform in offshore wind farmUnder its new industrial strategy, the government has committed £4.7 billion for science and innovation until 2020 and has announced the creation of a new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This will be modelled on the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA. For seasoned innovation thinkers, this is very good news. But what’s so exciting about DARPA? Read more

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