'We would like to see the VAT regime reformed so that products that have a long life-cycle, or can be easily and cheaply repaired rather than replaced, are made economically more attractive. This would be an important step in turning away from the 'throwaway' consumer culture we currently have.' -- Lord O'Neill

Published on Wednesday morning, a report from the House of Lords Science and Technology select committee has showed that domestic waste accounts for less than 10% of waste.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7570909.stm
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7571637.stm
 http://www.parliament.uk/hlscience/
 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldselect/ldsctech/163/163.pdf
 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldselect/ldsctech/163/163ii.pdf

This means that we could reduce to zero our domestic waste and it would make little difference as over 90% of waste is generated by industry and business, and even the little that does flow through households comes from supermarkets through their excess packaging.

As the House of Lords committee recommends, the focus of attention should be on business and industry not households if we are to make inroads into the amount of waste we as a society generate.

The Lords say we need design changes, that products should be designed that they last longer, are easy to disassemble and repair and recycle, that we should focus on waste reduction not recycling, that we need changes in taxation and possibly legislation to force the changes.

 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/nat-cap.htm

If households can be criminalised for leaving a wheelie bin lid ajar by four inches, or leaving it in the wrong place at the wrong time, is it not about time industry and business were criminalised for the amount of waste they generate?

We have to move to a zero waste strategy, where we produce zero waste, where the output of one process is the input to another, that everything that ends up at the household can easily be recycled, can be dismantled and repaired, can be broken down into its component parts at the end of its lifetime and what cannot be reused can be recycled. If a process leaves hazardous waste it is replaced by a more benign process or eliminated.

 http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/
 http://www.zerowaste.org/
 http://www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au/

That is not to say we do not do our bit. We too should be minimising our waste, recycling and composting. A situation not helped by local councils like the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor, where first they try fortnightly waste collection, then halving the size of the wheelie bins, when what they should be focusing on is recycling, home composting and waste reduction not cutting services in the name of recycling and waste reduction.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7570638.stm
 http://cllrclifford.blogspot.com/2008/08/statement-to-sunday-telegraph.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/406432.html?c=on

reference and background

Anger over smaller bins, BBC South Today, 19 August 2008
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7570638.stm

Richard Black, Call to tackle UK business waste, BBC news on-line, 19 August 2008
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7570909.stm

Lester R Brown, Plan B 2.0, Norton, 2006
 http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/Contents.htm

Lester R. Brown, Throwaway economy in trouble, Earth Policy Institute, 30 November 2006
 http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch06_ss4.htm

David Clifford, Rushmoor's Waste Management Panel's recommendations, 10 June 2008
 http://cllrclifford.blogspot.com/2008/06/rushmoors-waste-management-panels.html

David Clifford, Statement to Sunday Telegraph, 14 August 2008
 http://cllrclifford.blogspot.com/2008/08/statement-to-sunday-telegraph.html

David Gibbs, If we can’t cut collection we'll halve your bin size, Daily Express, 18 August 2008
 http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/57315/If-we-can-t-cut-collection-we-ll-halve-your-bin-size

Paul Hawken, Amory B Lovins & L Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism, Earthscan, 1999

Alastair Jamieson Want weekly rubbish collections? Then you must have a smaller bin, say councils, Sunday Telegraph, 17 August 2008
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2571143/Want-weekly-rubbish-collections-Then-you-must-have-a-smaller-bin-say-councils.html

Tom Kelly, The shrinking bins, Daily mail, 18 August 2008
 http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1046213/The-shrinking-bins-Blatant-councils-agree-weekly-rubbish-collections-SMALLER-bins.html

Keith Parkins, Natural Capitalism, October 2000
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/nat-cap.htm

Keith Parkins, Curitiba – Designing a sustainable city, April 2006
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/curitiba.htm

Keith Parkins, Rushmoor wheelie bin madness, Indymedia UK, 11 August 2008
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/406432.html?c=on

Tom Peterkin, The £110 fine for overfilling your bin, Telegraph, 3 August 2008
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2493788/The-110-fine-for-overfilling-your-bin.html

Plan aims for zero waste society, BBc news on-line, 11 March 2008
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7289322.stm

Graham Tibbetts, Smaller wheelie bins for weekly rubbish collections, Telegraph, 18 August 2008
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2579039/Smaller-wheelie-bins-for-weekly-rubbish-collections.htm

UK 'must tackle business waste', BBC news on-line, 20 August 2008
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7571637.stm

Ernst von Weizsåcker, Amory B Lovins and L Hunter Lovins, Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use, Earthscan, 1997