In the UK, it takes 10 tonnes of resources, including raw materials and energy to produce 1 tonne of useful products. This inefficient use of resources leads to excess waste and environmental stress.

In order to reduce the amount of resources used, the EU and UK Government have been introducing measures designed to reduce the amount of waste we produce, and improve the way it is dealt with and ultimately disposed of.

Over 400 million tonnes of commercial and household waste are produced annually in the UK, and the majority of this is disposed of straight to landfill. The limited amount of space available for landfill means that we need to reduce the amount of waste we produce, and increase the re-use and recycling of materials before final disposal.

Disposal options for waste should follow the waste hierarchy:

The most cost effective and environmentally sound way of disposing of your waste is to provide it to another company who can reuse it. This saves you the cost of disposal and reduces the amount of raw materials used by the recipient.

When the "reduce" and "reuse" options have been exhausted, reprocessing is the next step in developing a sustainable society. Reprocessing and entering material back into the market conserves our finite resources and diverts waste from landfill.

There needs to be material, a process to add value and a market for the product.Recycling and recovery often fail due to the lack of demand for recyclate materials and subsequent products.

Why is there no demand for recyclate?
There are several possible reasons, varying according to the material;

• Lack of effective reprocessing technology
• Reprocessing is not cost effective
• Supply of recyclate is not consistent
• The quality of recyclate is variable
• Lack of a developed end-user market

This can often be reinforced by our impressions of recycled products which are often incorrect or misguided. These may have occurred through:

• The perceived quality of early recycled products, the quality of which may not be representative of todays products

• Higher unit cost resultant from the lack of a developed market.

There are different issues for the domestic and business sector. Local Authorities provide facilities for the storage and collection of waste material intended for recycling from the domestic sector. These facilities do not exist for businesses looking to divert their waste from landfill.

By simply throwing production waste away you are in effect paying to dispose of a product that you have invested time and money in manufacturing.

With some waste there is often the possibility that it could have value to someone else. For example:

Offices produce shredded paper, which they pay to dispose of. Shredded paper can be used as animal bedding. By exchanging the waste

• the business saves money on disposal

• the use of shredded paper saves money on manufactured bedding

• waste is diverted from landfill

• use of natural resources is reduced.