The minister spoke in a video address on 18 May at the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management. She was followed by keynote speaker David Palmer-Jones who spoke of his desire to see the Resources & Waste Strategy delivered more quickly by government.
‘Dedication’
The minister started with praise for the sector. She said: “I know the past couple of years have been a unique and recycling time for many in recycling and waste, and I want to thank the industry for the hard work and dedication that the sector has show in keeping waste services up and running through the most incredibly difficult times.”
Minister Churchill highlighted the sheer breadth of the categories at the Awards and how the finalists “show the ambition of the sector in moving to a circular economy, reducing waste, contributing to achieving net zero, ensuring materials are collected from households for recycling in order to increase our national recycling rate and we are truly moving forward.”
She explained how government intends to do its part and highlighted the Resources & Waste Strategy and how the Environment Act gives the powers to deliver on the commitments in the strategy.
Considerable progress has been made, the minister said. She also highlighted how the Act gives government the powers to fulfil its commitment to not export plastic waste to non-OECD countries and there will be a consultation on this later this year.
Local authorities and businesses are waiting for the DRS and Consistent Recycling response and this will be published “very shortly”, Minister Churchill confirmed.
She concluded: “We want to make recycling easier and ensure there’s a comprehensive, consistent service across England. We want to increase the recycling of packaging material, food and other recyclable material from households and business, including public organisations such as schools, hospitals and government buildings. This will be vital to increasing the amount of material we recycle and reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill.”
David Palmer-Jones
David Palmer-Jones to some extent surprised his audience by wanting to see the return of Michael Gove as Defra secretary of state, as he was in place back in 2018 to get the Resources & Waste Strategy started.
The former chief executive of Suez UK and past president of Europe’s FEAD waste association, said: “It’s wonderful that I can address you with a new found freedom as I have thrown off the chains of corporate life after 33 years with SUEZ.
“I’ll start by saying, come back Mr Gove, yes Come back Mr Gove.”
Mr Palmer-Jones continued: “Our loss of Mr Gove cannot be construed as a gain for the construction industry as he tackles the debacle of the cladding scandal at their expense. But his customary directness and efficiency is evident in this issue, as it was when as the DEFRA Minister he ushered in a recycling and waste strategy full of vision and possibility for our sector but more importantly for the environment.”
He said that when Mr Gove ran DEFRA he capitalised on a “renewed focus on the environment, maybe this was good timing on the back of China shutting its doors to our recyclables, the airing of Blue Planet 2 or the dawning realisation by politicians that that this potentially far-reaching strategy was bogged down in a never-ending consultation phase, I believe which is still going.”
‘Complacency’
Mr Palmer-Jones said he felt all direction and dynamism had been lost and replaced by “the inevitable complacency and compromise that dogs most of or new regulation”.
“Regulation cannot continue to be created and managed in this way,” he declared.
“It can’t be piece-meal it needs to be joined up, it needs to understand and connect the multiple possibilities across the value chain that exist. It needs to establish a longevity of vision and strategy which brings with it the clarity to attract investment to transform resources.”
So I say, ‘come back Mr Gove to a newly formed ministry – a Ministry of Resources’
And he urged that the environment should be put at the centre of all decision making across government.
“Forget meaningless turf battles between Government departments that prevent a more integrated and joined up approach. Cut through the vested interests of countless stakeholders lobbying to water down new regulation leading to a loss of its effectiveness and a less positive impact on the environment.”
Mr Palmer-Jones concluded with a call for a new ministry: “So I say come back Mr Gove to a newly formed ministry – a Ministry of Resources incorporating the activities of DEFRA/BEIS and planning too. Set up that independent long-term infrastructure body and create a platform for resource security for the UK whilst ensuring the protection of our fragile environment.”
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