Waste

As recently as 2003, Wales had one of the worst recycling records in Europe with some councils recycling and composting as little as 2% of waste.

But our record has improved dramatically over the past five years.

Cardiff was the first city in the UK to provide every household with a free, weekly collection of both food and garden waste, diverting it from landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

By now, our recycling rate has reached 41%. Yet an article published in current affairs magazine Golwg in September 2009 suggests that the figures can be misleading.

Ged Farnell, who runs a recycling business in Aberystwyth, was quoted as saying that while an increasing number of people in Ceredigion are putting jars and cans out for recycling, many of these items have not been cleaned. The bags are weighed first, and then passed on to contractors - but dirty items are rejected. These can account for around a quarter of the overall contents.

So it is difficult to know exactly how much of our waste is recycled, and how much ends up being taken to landfill after a detour to the recycling depot.

In April 2009 the Welsh Assembly Government announced a target of recycling 70% of municipal waste by 2025.

It also wants Wales to become a "Zero Waste Nation" by 2050 as well as meeting a 90% target for recycling, recovery and re-use of non-hazardous waste from construction.

Environment and Sustainability Minister Jane Davidson says she believes "this is the most ambitious recycling plan among all the administrations of the UK".

"It is not only our environment that will benefit, but also our economy. There are tremendous opportunities to save money and create high quality industry in Wales by using the valuable material resources contained in waste."

Though the government has been applauded for its ambitions, many environmental commentators are asking why we produce so much waste in the first place.

Campaigner Catrin Doyle sees the issue of waste as a symptom of a consumerist lifestyle which is impossible to sustain.

"Why are food companies not penalised for using so much unnecessary packaging?" she asks. "Why don't we pay a deposit on plastic bottles? And why are supermarkets allowed to promote "two for the price of one" offers which encourage people to throw away food?"

"Producing and recycling waste might create jobs, but our throw away society is exploiting the planet's resources in a way that is unsustainable."

Minister Jane Davidson has been praised, however, for pushing for a compulsory levy of 15 pence on disposable plastic bags.

So far this has happened in China, Japan, Malta, Finland and Ireland. After this policy was introduced in Ireland in 2002, there was a 90% decline in the number of bags used.

It is interesting to note that Cardiff City Council, despite taking a progressive approach to recycling, seems intent on making the city a magnet for consumers.

The biggest department store in Wales recently opened in the city centre, and council leader Rodney Berman said this would boost Cardiff's growing reputation as a shopping destination.

"The opening of John Lewis is another significant step forward for the city of Cardiff," he said.

Some environmentalists see a contradiction between this promotion of mass consumerism and the council's ethos of "reduce, re-use, recycle".

Space is running out

Historically, waste has ended up in landfill sites - mostly a network of disused quarries and mines.

Landfill sites produce methane from decaying biological waste - a highly potent greenhouse gas. But over the last 10 years greenhouse gas emissions from landfill in Wales have declined by over 50% due to increased regulation and environmental control.

There are 15 landfill sites in Wales and space is rapidly running out. If we continue to generate waste at current rates, our sites will be filled to capacity within eight years.

European legislation means that local authorities will receive hefty fines if they send too much waste to landfill sites.

Around a third of the food we buy in Wales ends up in the bin. Most Welsh authorities are now enrolled in a national programme to start treating food waste through anaerobic digesters by 2013.

This technology allows us simultaneously to process food waste to produce compost, and to generate heat to power the processing plant or local homes and schools.

Though these plants are only just emerging in the UK, they are widely used in other European countries.

The Assembly Government intends to inject £26 million of funding to help local authorities develop a network of anaerobic digestion plants. These could supply 1% of Wales's electricity.

Incinerator proposals

The WAG's preferred method of treatment for waste that cannot be recycled is incineration.

Massive incinerators have now been proposed for Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff

Chair of Waste Awareness Wales, Aled Roberts, says :"These modern energy from waste plants are a world away from the heavily pollutant waste incinerators of the 1970s and are now far cleaner than other more traditional methods of power generation."

Environmentalists, however, are still concerned about the impact of the emissions on the climate, as well as the possible pollution from the plants and from transporting the waste. Local groups are opposing these latest proposals.

Some campaigners have also suggested that our communities need to feel a greater sense of responsibilty over the waste we produce. By doing this, they say, we are more likely to recognise the importance of reducing the amount of goods we consume.

Written by Angharad Penrhyn Jones, environmental campaigner

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