Recycling and renewable energy company Viridor said the UK government should focus on waste crime and establish a National Resources Council.
Materials Recycling World reported on the comments, which formed part of a response to a consultation on waste crime undertaken by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Welsh government.
Dan Cooke, Director of External Affairs at Viridor, said: “Waste crime is one of the areas seriously threatening the resources and waste sector’s tremendous potential as a growth industry for the UK economy. We hope the new government will put tackling waste crime front and centre of its priorities for the sector.
Viridor said that the UK resource sector is using rapidly aging, soon-to-become obsolete recycling technology, and there were serious doubts that the UK would achieve its recycling targets for 2020.
The recycling company said it was investing £1.5billion ($2.3 billion/€2 billion) in next generation infrastructure “to translate zero waste policy into practice”.
It mentioned that local authority cuts had impacted communications and collections, leading to more contamination and customers sourcing better quality secondary materials on the continent.
The company also endorsed setting up a National Resources Council, an oversight body for managing UK waste policy and resources. Also recommended was allocating money raised through landfill tax to funding the clearing remediating
A similar group was called for by a coalition of business groups in April 2015, when the Material Security Working Group (MSWG), which includes groups such as the Resource Association (RA) and Friends of the Earth, suggested an Office for Resource Management (ORM) be created. The Liberal Democrats backed the creation of an ORM in their pre-election manifesto.
The response document also recommends setting aside some of money raised through landfill tax to fund the clearing and remediating of abandoned or orphan sites.
Regulations were introduced in April 2015 granting enforcers greater powers to seize vehicles suspected of being involved in fly-tipping and other waste crime.