City waste chiefs want to turn rubbish into resources

London must start looking at its waste as a resource rather than
rubbish to be disposed of, the London Waste and Recycling Board has
agreed.



At its second meeting, the board agreed to focus its efforts in three
main areas to reduce the capital's waste problem - increasing recycling
of priority materials such as plastic, extracting energy from the
capital's food waste, and generating energy from waste wood.



The capital currently spends about £12bn on energy, including
heating, but sends 500,000 tonnes of wood and one million tonnes of
food waste to landfill.



At its next meeting in February, the board will discuss proposals for investment to target these priority areas.



Peter Calliafas, chairman of the board's policy sub-committee,
said: "In the current economic climate, we believe that people will be
receptive to a reuse agenda."



He also recommended partnerships with private businesses and waste
firms to ensure there was a "common purpose" to create better waste
facilities.



Chairman of the board Boris Johnson said: "There's a very important
economic case to be made for what we want to do. There's an enormous
economic advantage.



"I think we have got to make the pitch to the public, and the boroughs most of all, about the way we want to take that forward."



But some members of the board raised concerns about the pace of work to draw up a comprehensive action plan.



Councillor Daniel Moylan, chairman of the London Councils transport
and environment committee, called for GLA officers to ensure a priority
plan was drawn up quickly despite the upcoming holidays.



"They should be put on a strict deadline to have a draft ready a
fortnight before we are due to meet," he said, joking that Christmas
should be "cancelled" for the officers working on the plan.



The board agreed to begin talks with the recycling industry ahead of agreeing its plans in February.