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REFUSE DISPOSAL: Throwaway Christmas: Britain Set to Dispose of Three Million Tonnes of Waste

Posted on: Friday, 23 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Martin Hickman Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Britain is braced for the most throwaway Christmas on record, with an estimated three million tons of waste " a tenth of our annual rubbish " accumulated in the next few days.

Barely a quarter of jettisoned goods, packaging and uneaten food is likely to be recycled, with the rest incinerated " spewing pollution into the atmosphere " or dumped in landfill sites where heavy metals can seep into the ground.

The European Union has become so exasperated with the Government's failure to improve recycling that it has threatened legal action.

The row centres on repeated delays to the introduction of the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which would cut dumping of televisions, computers and other electrical goods.

Britain has a widespread problem with rates of recycling, which are far lower than most of our European neighbours.

Recycling in England has doubled to almost 23 per cent in the past five years, but countries such as Norway boast rates as high as 68 per cent.

The Government has begun a campaign to highlight the volume of waste that will be generated by the gluttony of the Christmas season.

According to Recycle Now, the Government body, one billion Christmas cards, eight million Christmas trees and 750 million more bottles and jars than usual will be bought this Christmas.

Half of this material could easily be recycled or composted " yet most will end up going straight in the bin.

The organisation believes that many people's desire to recycle wanes over the Christmas holiday.

Ben Bradshaw, the Local Government minister, said: 'This Christmas Britain will generate millions of tons of rubbish, most of which will languish in landfill sites. This needn't be so. Recycling is easier than it has ever been before so everyone can do their bit.

'The benefits of recycling to the environment are clear. More than eight million Christmas trees will be bought this year, most of which will be thrown away after Christmas, generating over 12,000 tons of extra rubbish.

'Not only is landfill the worst possible environmental option for waste, biodegradable waste " such as Christmas trees " also creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as it degrades.'

Stephen Webb, of Waste Watch, said: 'You only have to look at the number of black bags at the end of every street at the end of the holiday to see just how much waste is created at Christmas.'

According to Recycle Now, every person in the UK throws away seven times their body weight in rubbish each year. However, for every five tons of electrical products thrown away by consumers it is estimated that another 15 tons are wasted in making the products.

This Christmas the popularity of new iPods, DVD players and plasma televisions is likely to result in the dumping of obsolete video recorders, stereo stack systems and CD Walkmans.

Packaging is likely to rise as a result of the surge in goods bought from the internet for delivery " up from 55 million parcels last year to an estimated 70 million " and higher food consumption. The failure to prevent the proliferation of packaging vexes many consumers and environmentalist.

This summer in his parting shot as president of the Royal Society " Britain's academy of science " Lord May took the Government to task on its green record. He singled out packaging, complaining: 'What we have is a totally gutless avoidance of introducing legislation that tries to reverse the trend to ever-more wastefully elaborate and environmentally damaging over- packaging of stuff.'

Another widespread complaint is that built-in obsolence means that products are no longer made to last.

However, the growing environmental imperative to reduce pollution from industry and waste disposal means that the rise of the throwaway society is likely to move up the political agenda in coming years.

The British Retail Consortium, which represents the big store chains, is already in talks with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss the development of more sustainable products.

Nigel Smith, the organisation's corporate social responsibility director, acknowledged that the vast scale of consumption and waste was becoming 'a big issue'.

Friends of the Earth argues that there is a moral responsibility on western governments and consumers to reduce waste and recycle. The organisation would like to see more prevention of waste in the first place but, failing that, more recycling and reuse.

Michael Warhurst, senior resources campaigner for the group, said: 'There is huge demand for resources around the world and for us to say: 'Why shouldn't we waste these resources?' is a pretty immoral thing to do. And these days recycling is much easier and many areas have kerbside collections.'

Source: Independent, The; London (UK)

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