Waste

Campaign date: 08-01-2008

The production of waste in Kent is growing. With less than five years of landfill capacity remaining in the county and recycling of household refuse only slowly increasing, a major rethink of waste policy is required. 

Kent County Council has responded to dwindling landfill space by promoting waste incineration for electricity generation. This produces large volumes of greenhouse gases and places an obligation on local authorities to keep providing fixed amounts of rubbish to the incinerators.

Meanwhile, Kent continues to suffer dreadfully from littering and flytipping, which vandalise much of our countryside. 

CPRE Kent sees a threefold solution to our county’s waste problems:

Higher rates of local recycling

The average household in Kent sends 920 kilograms of rubbish per year to landfill or incineration. In the villages of Wye and Brook, near Ashford, this has been reduced by 75% by the local recycling company Wyecycle. One of the key elements of Wyecycle is the recycling of food waste – the largest component of our rubbish – as compost. The company also collects furniture and electrical equipment for a small charge. Local recycling plants will always be controversial, but planners need to recognise that our waste should be dealt with as locally as possible.

Less rubbish in the first place

Our culture produces ludicrous amounts of unnecessary household waste. Shops – especially supermarkets – and their suppliers could make a major reduction to our rubbish by curbing some of their packaging excesses, such as the plastic film on individual vegetables. We can generate much less rubbish by buying local food from farmers’ markets and independent shops, which are much more conservative with packaging. 

The construction industry throws away 20% of its materials unused, an inexcusable level of profligacy. With so many new houses threatened for our county over the coming decades, an improvement in this is urgently needed. CPRE Kent campaigns for a more sustainable approach to house building, with higher levels of off-site assembly to minimise waste.

An end to litter and flytipping

Litter disfigures our most wonderful countryside without benefiting anybody. As CPRE’s president Bill Bryson wrote recently: “Other countries have virtually eliminated litter from their landscapes. There is no reason why we can’t do as much here. We need to aim high.” CPRE will be campaigning hard across England through 2008 to try to eradicate this problem. Local authorities will play a leading role in beating litter, and the equally serious problem of flytipping. Kent County Council’s Clean Kent campaign has been very effective in highlighting the problems of flytipping and littering in our county.

KCC's Clean Kent campaign

Attachments:

Campaign Issues

• Sellindge Sludge Plant
• Transition Towns