The Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM) joined debates on waste crime and the financial impact of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool last week.
CIWM’s Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs, Dan Cooke, spoke as part of a session focused on how local government can manage the inclusion of Energy-from-Waste (EfW) in the Emissions Trading Scheme.
He was joined on the panel by former CIWM President Dr Adam Read MBE, Chief Sustainability & External Affairs Officer at SUEZ UK, and Clyde Loakes MBE from the North London Waste Authority.
The discussion explored the increased cost of EfW and how this could be reflected in packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees to fully apply the polluter pays principle and drive system investment.
Cooke advocated for EfW costs to be reflected in EPR for packaging fees to protect local government finances. This was one of the key recommendations outlined in CIWM’s recent policy paper ‘Let’s Not Waste the Next Four Years’.
As part of another panel discussion, Cooke explored a recent investigation that found recycling centres in Turkey treating post-consumer plastic from the UK rely on refugees working in conditions so unsafe that ‘hundreds have died’.
He said the findings highlighted the need for investment and for the UK Government to centre the Circular Economy in their thinking.
The session featured Barry Gardiner MP and Greenpeace’s Will McCallum, as well as Tess Colley from The ENDS Report and investigative journalist Lucy Taylor, who both worked on the podcast investigation.